The meet is including
India's NSG membership bid and ways to strengthen cooperation in
counter-terrorism and trade.

This is Erdogan's first foreign visit after winning a
controversial referendum on April 16 that further consolidated his executive
powers.

Apart from his wife Emine Erdogan, the Turkish President is
accompanied by senior cabinet ministers and a 150-member business delegation
that will take part in a meeting of the India-Turkey Business Forum.

Ahead of his visit, India had played down proximity between
Turkey and Pakistan as well as Ankara's statements on Jammu and Kashmir.

India's position on the state of J&K is very well known
that it is an integral part of the country.

Turkey being a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),
the issue of India's membership bid for the elite group is likely to figure
during the talks between the two leaders.

Turkey is not directly opposed to India's NSG membership but
has been maintaining that the powerful bloc should come out with a system to
consider the entry of the countries which are not signatory to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as also supporting Pakistan's case.

The two sides were also expected to discuss ways to
strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism during the presidential visit here.

Issues relating to regional security, situation in the
Middle East, particularly Syria, are likely to figure during talks between Modi
and Erdogan

Maharashtra becomes First State to Use Automated Weather Stations (AWS) for Farmers - 01 May 17

Highlights:

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has inaugurated
the state’s first automatic weather station at Dongargaon in Nagpur.

The state government proposes to install around 2,065 such
weather stations across the state on a public private partnership (PPP) mode in
this year and 1,000 in next year.

The weather stations will be helpful in measuring the wind
direction, wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity and record amount of
rainfall.

The information gathered by the weather stations would be
shared among the farmers by making them available on Mahavedh portal
(Maharashtra agriculture weather information network) as well as on the mobile
application of Skymet.

Weather forecast firm Skymet Weather Private Ltd will be
setting up these weather stations. The farmers of the state can make use of the
information to manage sowing in a much better and planned way as per the
weather conditions.

These weather stations are significant because the IMD
forecast is limited to only four zones.

The weather related information is not made available by the
IMD at the level of taluks.

But, the AWS will provide forecast up to taluka level. As
one weather station will be installed for an area of around 12×12 km,
micro-level weather forecasts will be possible.

In addition, the digital kiosks will be set-up in every Gram
Panchayat to disburse weather related information and expert advice on crop
pattern to the farmers.

During the first phase, information will be shared using
SMS. In the second phase, half hourly updates will be provided to all the Gram
Panchayats.

The sensors of the AWS will be able to record important
parameters relevant for agriculture like temperature, relative humidity, wind
speed and direction, rainfall, solar radiation, leaf wetness, soil moisture and
temperature and atmospheric pressure and evapotranspiration.

The state government plans to use the data provided by the
AWS to prepare location-specific agriculture advisories, better disaster
management, design crop insurance schemes and establish a weather database
bank.

SAARC satellite to be launched on May 5 - 01 May 17

Highlights:

The South Asia satellite being built by India for use by
countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
region will be launched on May 5.

This was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his
Mann ki Batt radio address.

The capacities of the
satellite and the facilities will go a long way in addressing South Asia's
economic and developmental priorities.

The satellite will provide natural resources mapping, tele-medicine,
the field of education, deeper IT connectivity or fostering people to people
contact.

It is an important step by India to enhance co-operation
with the entire South Asia.

The satellite was announced by Mr. Modi during the 2014
SAARC summit in Nepal and all SAARC countries have since joined it except
Pakistan.

The total cost of launching the satellite is estimated to be
about Rs.235 crore and the cost associated with the launch will be met by the
Government of India.

The satellite called GSAT-09 enables full range of
applications and services in the areas of telecommunication and broadcasting
applications viz. Television, Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture
Terminals (VSATs), Tele-education, Telemedicine and Disaster Management
Support.

The 2,230 kg satellite was built by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) and has 12 Ku-band transponders.

It is cuboid in shape and built around a central cylinder
has a mission life of over 12 years.

It will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in
Sriharikota using a Geostationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-II launch vehicle.

The GSLV-F09 is about 50m tall and is the 11th flight of the
GSLV.

It is also the its fourth consecutive flight with the indigenous
Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) engine.

India to give Rs 35 cr to children of freedom fighters in Bangladesh - 01 May 17

Highlights:

India will give Rs. 35 crore rupees to children of freedom
fighters in Bangladesh under the new ‘Muktijodha scholarship’ scheme in the
next five years.

Under the scheme, students at higher secondary level will
get a one-time grant of Tk 20,000 (Rs 15,370) and students at the undergraduate
level will get a grant of Tk 50,000 (Rs 38,430).

In addition, all freedom fighters will be eligible for
multiple entries on Indian visa for a period of five years.

Also, every year 100 of them will be entitled to free
medical treatment in Indian hospitals.

Muktijodha Scholarship Scheme was initiated in 2006 to support
the descendants of the 1971 Freedom Fighters.

So far, more than 10,000 scholarships worth Tk150 million
have been granted to the descendants under the scheme.

It is India who aided Bangladesh to gain independence from
Pakistan in 1971.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent
visit to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that India will
provide scholarships to another 10,000 students under the new ‘Muktijodha
scholarship’.

During the visit, India and Bangladesh had signed 22
agreements in various fields such as defence, nuclear cooperation, judicial
sector, earth sciences, navigation, peaceful uses of outer space, to boost
bilateral cooperation.

India also announced concessional Line of Credit (LoC) of
$4.5 billion to Bangladesh for projects in priority sectors.

Moreover, India also gave LoC of $500 million to Bangladesh
for defence purchases.

Bangladesh gives away ‘Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War
Award’ to individuals and organizations who had extended the most crucial support
for Bangladesh’s independence struggle.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first to
be honoured with this award.

The other prominent recipients include President Pranab
Mukherjee and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

RBI asks ARCs to have a minimum net corpus of Rs100 crore by 2019 - 01 May 17

Highlights:

India's apex bank RBI has asked all the existing Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) to have a minimum net owned fund (NOF) of
Rs100 crore by March 2019.

This decision has been taken by RBI in accordance with its
last bi-monthly monetary policy.

It had proposed to stipulate a minimum
NOF of Rs100 crore taking into consideration the enhanced role and greater cash
based transactions carried out by ARCs.

As per amended SARFAESI Act, 2016, ARCs cannot carry on the
business of securitisation or asset reconstruction without having NOF of not
less than Rs 2 crore or any other amount stipulated by the RBI.

As per the notification of RBI, the existing ARCs not
meeting the minimum NOF criteria need to achieve the minimum NOF of Rs100 crore
latest by 31 March 2019.

What is ARC ?

It is a company
registered under Section 3 of the Securitization and reconstruction of
Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.

ARCs are regulated by the RBI.

They are the specialised agencies with a main role of
resolving the stressed assets issue of the Indian banking system.

They are involved in buying bad loans from Indian banks to
turn them around. ARCs are similar to the asset management companies present in
countries like Malaysia, Korea and several other countries.

In 1998, Narsimham Committee - II proposed to set up of ARCs
on the similar lines with that of asset management companies present globally.

The main advantage of ARCs is they help the banks to
concentrate on normal banking operations rather than dealing with stressed
assets

The seven-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar,
had taken note of the "tenor" of Justice Karnan's orders and press
briefings and directed his medical check-up by doctors with police support, as
the Calcutta High Court Judge did not appear before it.

Reacting to the order, a belligerent Justice Karnan will not appear before such a medical board as
directed by the Supreme Court.

Justice Karnan will
not appear before a medical board for examining his health as directed by the
apex court.

He had also threatened to pass suo motu suspension order
against the Director General of Police (DGP) of West Bengal, if the DGP
functions against my wish.

Justice Karnan had on March 31 appeared before the apex
court which granted him four weeks' time to respond to the contempt notice
while rejecting the submission that his administrative and judicial powers be
restored.

Refusing to appear before the apex court again, Justice
Karnan had on April 13 issued an order asking the seven judges to appear before
him on April 28 and then extended the date of appearance to May 1.

Madhya Pradesh became the first state of India to introduce as financial year (January-December) - 02 May 17

Highlights:

Madhya Pradesh became
the first Indian state to move to a January-December financial year.

This move of the state government came after Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had urged for such a shift some days ago.

During April 2017, Prime Minister Modi suggested at the NITI
Aayog’s governing council meeting that states should take the lead in changing
the financial year to January-December.

The government is of the view that such a shift will help in
better economic and political management of the country and also help the
Indian economy integrate with the global economic architecture.

During 2016, a committee headed by former Chief Economic
Adviser Shankar Acharya recommended changing the fiscal year to
January-December.

The Department of
Telecom (DoT) on 2 May 2017 launched a web-portal named as ‘Tarang Sanchar’ which allows people
to track radiation emitted from mobile towers within their locality.

It will empower consumers to know, at the click of the
mouse, about the towers working in a particular area and whether they are
compliant to the electromagnetic field (EMF) emission norms defined by the
government.

It will also help in clearing “myths and misconceptions”
about mobile towers and emissions from them.

The timing of the launch of this web portal coincides with
the recent SC order on deactivation of a mobile tower in Gwalior on the plea of
a 42-year-old cancer patient.

Real Estate Act came into effect on 1 May 2017 - 03 May 17

Highlights:

The much awaited Real Estate Act (Bill) , 2016, which seeks to protect the right of consumers and
ushering in transparency in real estate transactions, came into effect from 1
May 2017.

Thirteen Indian states and union territories have
notified the rules pertaining to the act as on this date.

However, only 13 states and UTs have notified rules for the
Act, as on this date.

The states that have notified the Act are – Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

On the other hand Union Territories-Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, National Capital Region of Delhi, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep have also notified the rules.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016 was
passed by Parliament in March last year and all the 92 sections of the Act come
into effect from 1 May 2017.

The government has brought in the legislation to protect
home buyers and encourage genuine private players.

The developers will now have to get the ongoing projects
that have not received completion certificate and the new projects registered
with regulatory authorities within 3 months from 1 May.

“Vidya-Veerta Abhiyan”: A nationwide mission launched by the Union Government to promote nationalism among youth - 03 May 17

Highlights:

“Vidya-Veerta Abhiyan”, the nationwide mission to instil
patriotism in the younger generation and to promote nationalism among youth.

It was launched by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister
Prakash Javadekar on 2 May 2017.

The mission is being seen as an effort to send out a message
that it’s not only soldiers but every citizen and every youth of this country
is responsible for the safety of the country.

It is the brain child of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader
Tarun Vijay.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also played a
significant role in giving its shape to the campaign.

It has been proposed to construct at least one 15-20 feet
wall in higher educational institution campuses to display the portraits of 21
soldiers decorated with Param Vir Chakra, highest military recognition under
“Vidya-Veerta Abhiyan”.

India’s flagship
Swacchh Bharat Mission is one of the key reasons to have improved its rankings
on the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index 2017.

Tourist experience in India has improved as a result of
greater cleanliness in and around tourist areas.

India is among the 15 most-improved countries of the World
on the global index.

It has moved up 12 notches from 52 in 2015 to Global rank 40
on the index this year.

Spain remains on the top of the Index of 136 countries,
while Yemen is ranked 136.

The drinking water and sanitation ministry will set up a
'Rashtriya Swacchhta Kendra' under the Swacchh Bharat Mission at Rajghat in the
national capital.

The office will be set up to the mark the centenary year of
the Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagrah and will showcase the government's
efforts and achievement in the area of total sanitation.

The Swachh Paryatan mobile application launched by the
ministry in February this year to ensure cleanliness around heritage monuments
will be extended to create alerts about insanitary conditions in different
parts of the cities as well.

The Modi government have built 4 crore toilets between 2014 and
2017, and created 1.94 lakh open defecation free villages and 135 ODF
districts.

The states like Sikkim, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh are
already ODF states, many others are on the verge of being declared.

The government today approved the National Steel Policy
2017, aimed to provide impetus to the steel industry.

Policy is aimed to achieve 300 MT of steel capacity by 2030.

The policy will also encourage an environment for promoting
domestic steel to anticipate pace of growth in consumption.

To increase per capita steel consumption to 160 kg by 2030
from existing level of around 60 kg will be focus of the policy.

Vijayawada gets International airport - 03 May 17

Highlights:

The central government has granted international
status to Vijayawada airport.

The decision to upgrade the status of Vijayawada airport, as
per the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 was taken by
the Union Cabinet, whose meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The proposal will add to improved connectivity to the state
capital,” the Union Cabinet said in a statement.

It will provide wider choice of services at competitive
costs to the air travellers and give a boost to domestic/international tourism
and socio-economic development of Andhra Pradesh by bringing in international
passengers and cargo traffic.”

The main is aim to
improve connectivity to the Andhra Pradesh capital.

The state government approved the development of Vijayawada airport
as International airport.

The clearance will also boost international tourism and
socio-economic development of the state.

Unified Andhra Pradesh's international airport in Hyderabad
was transferred to Telangana after bifucration.

The act bifurcated the state into Telangana and residual
Andhra Pradesh.

As a result, the capital Hyderabad as well as the states
lone international airport situated in the city were transferred to the new
state of Telangana.

The term ‘SAMPADA’ stands for – Scheme for Agro-Marine
Processing And Development of Agro-Processing Clusters

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to Scheme for Agro-Marine
Processing And Development of Agro-Processing Clusters (SAMPADA) on 3 May 2017.

The deadline for the Centre’s immunisation programme,
Mission Indradhanush has given dead-line to complete it by December 2018.

The renewed focus on the mission comes after Prime Minister
Narendra Modi reviewed the project threadbare last week at the meeting of the
multi-modal platform PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation).

The mission, launched in December 2014 by the health
ministry.

Earlier had a deadline of 2020 to provide full immunisation
to more than 90% children in the country.

With the next general election due in 2019, early completion
of the project aimed at reducing high child mortality rates in India will count
among Modi government’s good governance measures.

Mission Indradhanush targets children below two years of age
as well as all pregnant women to save them from seven life-threatening diseases
which can be prevented by vaccine.

The PMO has asked states to complete headcount surveys of
the intended beneficiaries and focus on urban slums and districts faring the
worst in terms of coverage so far.

The government has so far completed three phases of the
mission across 497 districts and the fourth phase is on in 68 districts across
eight states in the Northeast since February this year.

Mission Indradhanush has led to vaccination of around 2.1
crore children, of which more than 55 lakh children have been fully immunised,
the health ministry told the PMO.

In all, 17 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated with
tetanus toxoid under the mission so far.

According to the report of Integrated
Child Health & Immunization Survey (INCHIS), the first two phases of
Mission Indradhanush have led to 5-7% increase in full immunisation coverage of
children.

All vaccines in India’s national immunisation programme
including recently introduced new vaccines such as inactivated polio vaccine
and pentavalent vaccine are being provided under Mission Indradhanush to
children.

The child mortality rate is high in India owing to
prevalence of life threatening diseases such as diphtheria, pertusis, tetanus,
poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia due
to haemophilus influenzae type B.

According to the international watchdog Global Financial
Integrity (GFI), over $2 1 billion worth of black money was illegally taken out
of India in 2014.

This illicit outflow was nearly 19% more than that recorded
the previous year.

GFI has, for the first time, given information on the
equally damaging inflow of illegal funds in this report.

India being the destination of a staggering $101 billion in
2014, up nearly 11% over the previous year.

Globally, the report estimates that between $620 and $970
billion was drained out of the developing world, primarily through trade fraud.

Illicit inflows are estimated at a mind boggling $1.4-2.5
trillion.

Combined, illicit outflows and inflows accounted for 14-24%
of total developing country trade over 2005-2014.

This year's GFI report stands out from its previous reports
for adopting a much more rigorous method of collecting and analysing
information on international trade and balance of payments.

Besides using IMF
global data on direction of trade, the report has included information from
other sources to plug gaps.

Inclusion of Swiss data on gold exports, that was earlier
omitted, has led to a drastic revision of India's outflow and inflow figures.

About 87% of the global illicit financial flows are
happening through trade misinvoicing.

This is how it works: if you want to send money out of the
country, you order something from abroad and get an inflated invoice or bill
made for it.

After paying the inflated bill to your foreign accomplice,
the extra money is put away in your name. By reversing this process - by
under-invoicing or getting a less-than-actual bill made - you can illicitly
allow money to flow into the country.

This can be
profitably used for a variety of illegal purposes, with no tax to pay.

According to the Reporters Without Borders (RWB), India is ranked 136th in the World Press Freedom Index 2017,
three points down from last year.

World Press Freedom Index is released
annually by Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

India has gone down from last year’s 133 rank.

The report
blames the rise of Hindu nationalism for the drop in ranking.

The 2017 Index has ranked 180 countries according to the
level of freedom available to journalists.

It was released on 3 May 2017 on the
occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

Norway is in the top position while North Korea in the
bottom of the 180 list of nations.

The previous year's India's rankings are:

2017- 42.94 (Rank-136)

2016- 43.17 (R-133)

2015- 40.49 (R-136)

2014- 40.34 (R-140)

2013- 41.22 (R-140)

2012- 58 (R-131)

2011- 38.75 (R-122)

Renowned Indian IT firm Wipro revealed its new logo - 04 May 17

Highlights:

Azim Premji led Bengaluru-headquartered Wipro Limited on 2
May 2017 revealed its new logo by replacing its iconic multi-coloured sunflower
logo that has been part of the group since 1998.

The new logo comprises of multi-coloured dots, represent the
way it “connects the dots” for its clients.

Wipro was established as Western India Vegetable Products
Limited in Amalner, Maharashtra in 1945.

It forayed into the IT industry in 1981 and became a pioneer
in marketing indigenous personal computers in 1985.

Today it has over 1.7 lakh employees on its payrolls.

It posted gross revenue of $8.5 billion for the financial
year which ended on 31 March, 2017.

India asks UK to ensure early extradition of Vijay Mallya - 04 May 17

Highlights:

India asked the United Kingdom to ensure early extradition
of fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya who is facing cases of bank loan default
to the tune of Rs. 9,000 crore by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The issue of presence of certain Sikh militant elements in
the UK, sharing of intelligence inputs on a real-time basis particularly with
regard to the ISIS - both from ISIS-held territories, and modules being busted
in the UK and Europe, were discussed at the two-hour-long meeting, official
sources said.

Counter-terror cooperation between India and Britain besides
a host of other issues figured in the parleys.

Matters relating to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty,
strengthening of the intelligence-sharing mechanism and visa- related issues
were also deliberated upon.

The 61-year-old Mallya, who has been living in Britain since
last year, was arrested by Scotland Yard last month on India’s extradition
request.

Within hours of his arrest, Mallya, who is accused of
cheating and fraud, was released on bail by a London court.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will argue the case
on behalf of the Indian authorities when it comes before the court.

Mr. Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines allegedly
owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India on March 2,
2016.

India and the UK have an extradition treaty, signed in 1992.

But so far only one
extradition has taken place under the arrangement - that of Samirbhai Vinubhai
Patel, who was sent back to India last October to face trial for his
involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.

However, unlike Mallya, Patel had submitted to the
extradition order without legal challenge.

India had given a formal extradition request for Mallya as
per the extradition treaty between India and the UK through a note verbale, a
diplomatic communication, on February 8.

The Union home secretary lauded the UK’s effort to extradite
Mallya and conveyed that New Delhi will help London to pursue the case in the
UK court.

India told the UK delegation that if one-on-one contact can
be established between the prosecuting agency in India and the Crown
Prosecution or Department of Prosecution, then it would be faster and easier to
put up evidence before the judge concerned.

India will inform the UK about the proceedings or hearings
happening in the cases of wanted criminals by the UK in India and wants the UK
to reciprocate in similar cases.

Both sides agreed that India and the UK will sign an MoU in
July on reworking the agreement on security cooperation.

India also offered to drop cases registered against one
Bangladeshi national, who is lodged in Assam, so that he can be extradited to
the UK.

India expects reciprocity that if people wanted by New Delhi
are mired in any British case, those should be dropped and extradition
facilitated.

China to launch own encyclopedia to rival Wikipedia - 05 May 17

Highlights:

China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia next year.

It hopes to build a
"cultural Great Wall" that can rival Wikipedia as a go-to information
source for Chinese Internet users who Beijing fears are being corrupted by
foreign influences.

China is under pressure to write its own encyclopaedia so it
can guide public thought.

The project will be under the guidance of the state-owned
China Publishing Group.

Unlike Wikipedia, and its Chinese version Baidu Baike, which
are written by volunteers and are in a constant state of revision, the new
project, which was approved in 2011, will be entirely written by professionals.

So far over 20,000 scholars and academics have been enlisted
to compile the project, which aims to have more than 3,00,000 entries by its
2018 launch.

The new encyclopaedia will be based on a previous printed
version, published in book form in 1993. A second edition, which can be
accessed through a special terminal, was released in 2009.

The newest version will be released online before being
published in a bound edition.

China has over 700 million internet users.

The country had the most restrictive online use policies of
65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

It has maintained that its various forms of web censorship -
collectively known as "The Great Firewall" - are necessary for
protecting its national security.

Sites blocked due to their content or sensitivity, among
them Face book and Twitter, cannot be accessed in China without special
software that allows users to bypass the strict controls.

According to the latest Swachh survey, Indore in Madhya
Pradesh, as the cleanest city, overtaking Karnataka's Mysuru.

The survey included
434 cities across the country.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu announced the
Swachh Survekshan Awards in New Delhi, with Indore topping the list of the
survey.

It reported that Gonda
in Uttar Pradesh was found the be the dirtiest.

The national capital New
Delhi Municipal Council area, slipped to seventh position, dropping three
places from last year.

Bhopal, another city in MP, came at second spot, followed by
Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and Surat.

Mysuru, which was India's cleanest city last year, slipped
to number five.

Gujarat has done incredibly well as 12 of its cities
features in the list of top 50 clean cities of India.

MP and Jharkhand were also found to have improved their cleanliness
levels compared to the previous survey as well.

The criteria of ranking is based on obtainability of
infrastructure and facility points connected to hygiene such like single
domestic toilets and community toilets and also the transference and
dispensation of municipal hard leftover.

Integrated Indian market will help attract FDI in South Asia: ADB - 05 May 17

Highlights:

The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) has called for an integrated and deregulated market in India to help
burnish the South Asian nation’s allure as a destination for foreign direct
investment.

India has a strong potential, but its markets should be more
integrated.

The powers of the state governments must be balanced with
the central government's power.

An integrated Indian market, which is more deregulated and
more welcoming to foreign direct investment, should be linked to other parts of
Asia and the world.

India is seeking to integrate its domestic markets by
implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is billed as the biggest
reforms in the country’s indirect taxation structure since Independence.

The GST, which seeks to subsume diverse state levies into
one band of taxation, will likely be implemented from July 1.

The integration of the tax system is being implemented.

There was an impact from demonetisation, but that is now stable.

The ADB has projected India’s economy to expand 7.4% in
2017-18, com-pared with 7.1% in 2016-17, driven by a revival in consumption and
higher public investments.

The ADB and the China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB) could be allies – not rivals – in the financing of infrastructure
projects.

Pegging the infrastructure needs of developing countries at
$1.73 trillion.

The AIIB was formed in 2015 and it has 52 members, while the
Manila-based ADB has 50 years of lending experience and has 67 members.

Maharashtra’s public works department (PWD) is planning to
award about 10,000 km of projects under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) in the
next three-four months.

The state government had proposed to spend Rs 3,500 crore on
HAM projects in its Budget this year.

The total cost of
building 10,000 km is estimated at Rs 30,000 crore.

The detailed project reports (DPRs) are currently being made
and the tenders, inviting requests for qualification (RFQ) from bidders, should
all be out by the end of May.e.

With bankers still somewhat wary of lending to the roads
sector, just 17 of the 32 projects awarded by the National Highways Authority
of India (NHAI) have managed to achieve financial closure.

According to sources, so far, State Bank of India has not
funded a single HAM project, citing concerns over the minimal equity
participation of promoters in the model.

Moreover, several HAM projects have been awaiting approval
from lenders for many months now; given that financial closure needs to be
achieved within 150 days of the concession agreement being signed, some of
these could get lapsed.

The Union government plans to set up new steel plants on
surplus land available with PSUs.

It would forge partnership with private sector to help more
than double steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030.

The Cabinet has approved
the New Steel Policy that aims to achieve 300 million tonnes of capacity by
2030 with an additional investment of Rs 10 lakh crore.

At present, the steel production capacity is 126 million
tonnes.

After 12 years, a new policy for steel sector has been
approved.

It will provide a
great boost to the industry and make it globally competitive.

The government plans
to utilise the surplus land of steel PSUs to set up new plant in joint venture
with private companies.

The share of PSUs and
private companies is expected to remain at the present level in future capacity
addition.

At present, the PSUs contribute 19 % to the total country’s
production capacity.

The government is
working out a mechanism to utilise the surplus land of PSUs for creating
steel-making clusters in joint venture with private firms, including foreign
companies.

The demand for domestic steel would rise significantly after
the Cabinet yesterday approved the policy for providing preference to
domestically manufactured iron & steel products in government procurement.

The government has budgeted Rs 4 lakh crore for
infrastructure development.

If even 10 % of this investment is on steel consumption,
then there will be huge demand for domestic steel.

This policy to boost FDI in steel sector as
foreign companies would consider setting up plants in India.

The government agencies can use imported steel only if it is
not available in India.

This policy seeks to give preference to Domestically
Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI & SP) in the government
projects.

It is applicable on all government tenders where price bid
is yet to be opened.

The government is
also working towards reducing the imports of coking coal and other raw
materials by increasing domestic availability at competitive rate.

The control will now be taken over by the Master Control
Facility in Hassan (Karnataka) and in the coming few weeks the GSAT-09 will
reach the final orbit.

In its oval shaped Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), the
South Asia Satellite is now orbiting the Earth with a perigee (nearest point to
Earth) of 169km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 36,105 km with an
orbital inclination of 20.65 degree with respect to the equator.

The 12 transponders in the Ku band that the satellite has
put into space will provide a host of applications and services: TV, DTH,
tele-education, tele-medicine, VSATs and disaster management support, besides
giving India a secure hotline with the countries that can be used during
disaster management and other emergencies.

This was GSLV's 11th launch.

It was the fourth consecutive success achieved by GSLV
carrying indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage.

ISRO has termed it a textbook launch.

Few seconds before the
launch countdown reached zero, the four liquid propellant strap-on motors of
GSLV-F09, each carrying 42 tonnes of liquid propellants, were ignited.

India and Russia are likely
to soon ink a "milestone" pact to finalise the detailed design for
the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and move ahead with the
multi-billion dollar co-development project.

Almost all the ground work has been
completed to finalise the deal for design of the jet as well as some other
critical issues.

The contract for the detailed design would be signed
soon and that will be a major milestone.

India has linked the project to full-scale
transfer of technology, the official, who requested anonymity, said both the
countries are co-developers and India will have equal rights over the
technology.

In the negotiations for the project, India had insisted that
it must get all the required codes and access to critical technology so that it
can upgrade the aircraft as per its requirements.

In February last year, India and Russia had revived talks on
the project after a clearance from then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Since then, a lot of issues related to work share, IPR and
technology transfer among others have been sorted out between the two sides,
along with the monetary commitments.

In 2007, India and Russia had inked an inter-governmental
pact for the FGFA project.

In December 2010, India had agreed to pay $295 million
towards the preliminary design of the fighter, which is called in India as the
'Perspective Multi-role Fighter' (PMF). H

In March, India and Russia had signed two key agreements for
long-term maintenance and technical support for Russian- made Su-30MKI fighter
jets of the Indian Air Force.

Currently, the IAF operates around 230 Su-30MKI fighter jets.

As per the agreements, Russian defence majors United Aircraft Corporation
and the United Engine Corporation will render technical support and provide
maintenance services and spares for the fleet for a period of five years.

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Great Britain dethroning Australia in the final - 07 May 17

Highlights:

Great Britain won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup title, defeating
Australia in the final match with a
rousing 4 -3 goal.

Great Britain won the title after a gap of 23 years victory
in the final against defending champions Australia on 6 May 2017.

Entering the final for the first time since their lone title
win in 1994, Great Britain led all the way after securing an early lead in the
eighth minute.

India won the bronze medal after defeating New Zealand 4-0
while Malaysia beat Japan 3-1 in the playoff for the fifth spot.

First woman Chief Justice of a state High Court Justice Leila Seth passed away - 07 May 17

Highlights:

Justice Leila Seth, who was the first woman Chief Justice
of a state High Court, passed away on 5 May 2017.

Leila Seth became the first woman chief justice of a state
high court as she took over as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court
in 1991.

Prior to this in 1978, she was appointed as the first woman
judge on the Delhi High Court.

She was part of the Justice J.S. Verma committee that
was set up to re-look at rape laws in India after the 16 December 2012 Nirbhaya
gang rape in Delhi that recommended several amendments to the criminal law. S

She was mother of Vikram Seth, the distinguished author known
for his iconic work – 'A Suitable Boy'

India become third-biggest solar market of world to overtake Japan in 2017 - 08 May 17

Highlights:

According to India Solar Handbook 2017 by Bridge to India , India
will become the third biggest solar market globally in 2017.

It is a consulting and knowledge service provider in the
clean technology market.

As of March 2017, India has already installed 12.2 gw of
utility scale solar power.

According to the report, about 79 gw of solar capacity is
expected to be added globally in 2017, with Asian countries continuing to
dominate and Europe falling by the wayside.

India's solar capacity is expected to touch the 18.7 gw mark
by the end of 2017.

With 8.8 gw (giga watt) of projected capacity addition - a growth of 76 %t over 2016 - India is set to become the third-largest photovoltaic market (PV) market in 2017, which will overtake Japan

India has about 5 % of the global pie, growing 89 % over the
last year.

Total new solar capacity addition in the next 5 years is
expected at 56 gw,

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have emerged as the
fastest growing states in India in terms of solar installation and in 2017.

India overtook China to become the world’s largest two-wheeler market - 08 May 17

Highlights:

According to a report by Society of Indian Automobile
Manufactures (SIAM), India has emerged as the biggest two-wheeler market in the
world overtaking China to take the No 1 spot.

According to the reports, India sold close to 17.7 million
units in 2016 compared to the 16.8 million units sold by China for the
financial year 2016-17.

In terms of pure volumes, China’s two-wheeler market is
huge, but China’s domestic motorcycle market has seen a downturn in recent
years due to a ban of motorcycles in many Chinese urban centres.

In India, Honda unseated Bajaj Auto to become second largest
bikes-maker for the time in April, and has also moved within striking distance
to overtake Hero as the country's largest two-wheeler company.

Over the past few years, the Chinese two-wheeler market was
on the decline for various reasons. The most evident was the rise in demand for
cars in the country and high import cost on two-wheelers made it difficult for
the bike-makers to cater to the segment.

This resulted in the down-grade of the two-wheeler segment
in the country.

Driven by a 34 per cent rise in overall volumes, we have
become the No 2 motorcycle-maker in the country in April, unseating the
incumbent by a wide margin (over 21,330 units).

India has taken the No 1 position from China despite the
negative impact of demonetisation and the BS-III vehicle ban, as the
two-wheeler industry is said to have incurred a loss of Rs 600 crore.

The apex court on March 29 banned the sale and registration
of BS-III category vehicles or those not compliant with Bharat Stage IV (BS IV)
emission norms from April 1.

CBDT chief Sushil Chandra gets one-year extension - 08 May 17

Highlights:

Senior bureaucrat Sushil Chandra was given one-year
extension till May 2018 as chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT).

He had taken over as chief of CBDT, the apex policy making
body of the Income Tax department, on November 1 last year.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
proposal for re-appointment of Chandra as CBDT chairman for a period of one year
from June 1 to May 31, 2018.

He is an IIT graduate
and a 1980 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre).

Two other CBDT members-- Nishi Singh and Gopal Mukherjee --
were in contention for the post. Now the two would retire before Chandra' fresh
tenure ends.

Singh (Member--Personnel and Vigilance) and Mukherjee
(Member-Investigation) would have got a short-tenure of about three months and
about eight months respectively as the CBDT chairperson.

It is understood that the decision to extend the incumbent's
term was taken in order to provide continuity as the CBDT is at the forefront
of combating black money and ushering in a taxpayer-friendly regime.

The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of
six members.

The Union Government forms panel to study financial health
of telecom sector.

An inter-ministerial committee being set up by the government
to look into the financial woes of the telecom sector would have about three
months to hand over its views and solutions to the government.

The panel is likely to have six to eight members, including
two from the telecom department and one each from the departments of revenue
and economic affairs.

The panel would look into issues related to the sector’s
financial health, which has taken a beating due to cut throat competition
triggered by the entry of Reliance Jio.

The inter-ministerial panels were being set up to examine
systemic issues of viability and repayment capacity and furnish recommendation
for resolution of stressed assets at the earliest.

A similar inter-ministerial panel for the power sector is
also being created.

The Reserve Bank of India last month asked banks to review
immediately their exposure to the telecom sector, which has a debt of nearly Rs
4.9 lakh crore, and make higher provisions to firewall their business against
any future stress.

Public sector banks like State Bank of India and Punjab
National Bank have huge exposure in the form of loans given to telecom
companies.

Under competitive pressure, major carriers like Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have reported dismal quarterly results
in the three months ended December, and sector analysts expect another weak
quarter, which ended March 31.

French Presidential elections : Emmanuel Macron will be the new President of France - 08 May 17

Highlights:

Centrist independent candidate Emmanuel Macron will be the
new President of France.

He won the historic
French Presidential elections on 7 May 2017 defeating far-right candidate
Marine Le Pen convincingly.

– He will be the youngest French President ever.

Emmanuel Macron (of En March!) won 66.06% of the popular
votes to emerge as the winner in the runoff elections held for the French
President on 7 May 2017.

He defeated Marine Le Pen of National Front who secured the
remaining 33.94% votes.

The 39-year old
Macron will thus become the youngest French President ever.

His win is expected to European Union (EU) and deal a blow
to the populist wave that has roiled western democracies for the past year.

It’s a remarkable achievement for Macron, who built his En
Marche! movement just last year.

A former investment banker and one-time economy minister in
the outgoing government of Francois Hollande, he only resigned his post in
August to run for the presidency, and becomes the first postwar head of state
to be elected from outside the traditional party structure.

Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party
(PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016
that he would not seek reelection in light of low approval ratings.

India to grow 7.5% next year on higher infrastructure spending: UN - 09 May 17

Highlights:

According to the UN
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Indian
economy will grow 7.5 % next year by virtue of consumption revival and higher
infrastructure spending.

For 2017, India's economic growth is projected stable at 7.1
% before catapulting to 7.5 % going into the next year.

The International Monetary Fund last month projected the
India's growth at 7.2 % in the fiscal 2017-18 and at 7.7 % for the next
financial year.

The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank (ADB)
projects the growth jumping to
7.4 % in 2017-18 and 7.6 % in the next.

Meanwhile, inflation is projected to reach 5.3-5.5 % in 2017
and 2018, which is somewhat above the official target of 4.5-5 %.

These banks' gross non-performing assets as percentage of
gross advances hit almost 12 % in 2016.

In the medium-term, India will also benefit from recent
reforms measures aimed at declogging supply side bottlenecks, it added.

Implementation of Good and Services Tax (GST), amendment of
a bankruptcy law and opening up of pharmaceuticals, defence and civil aviation
sectors will help India in its economic growth.

On the trends in the Asia-Pacific region, the UN ESCAP has
found growth in the region moderating in recent years compared to its
historical trend and a rebound in 2010.

India Will Invest Rs 10,000 In Deep Sea Mission To Dig Out Fuel And Minerals - 09 May 17

The Rs 10,000-crore project was an interministerial and
interdisciplinarity project.

India was open for technical tie-ups with several countries
in this regard.

The mission intended to harness the ocean's resources in a
'responsible way' and could turn out to be a transformative step for the
prosperity and security of the nation.

The project would have a huge impact for the benefit of the
country's deep ocean energy, deep sea fishing and minerals among others.

The sea water desalination project of Rs 2,000 crore at
Chennai coast is also taken up under the mission that aims to eliminate potable
water problem for the city.

The exclusive economic zone allotted to India in the
international waters will be covered under the Deep Ocean Mission.

The oceans that surround the Indian peninsula have over
1,300 islands.

India elected as President of UN-Habitat - 09 May 17

Highlights:

India has been unanimously elected as the President of the
UN-Habitat.

It is an organ of the United Nation's Organisation
(UNO) reports to the United Nations General Assembly.

UN-Habitat promotes
socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements across the world.
India has been elected as the President of UN-Habitat after a gap of 10 years.

This is only the third time that India has been elected as
the President of UN-Habitat after 2007 and 1988.

The UN-Habitat was established in 1978.

The Governing Council of UN-Habitat is an inter-governmental
policy making and decision making body.

It’s aims is to
promote integral and comprehensive approach to human settlements, assist the
countries and regions in addressing human settlement problems and strengthen
cooperation among countries over the issue of human settlement.

Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty
Alleviation M.Venkaiah Naidu will
preside over the deliberations of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat for the
next two years.

He will chair the 26th Meeting of 58 member Governing
Council of UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya.

The theme of the meeting
is “Opportunities for effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda”.

What is UN-Habitat ?

It is also known as United Nations Human Settlements Program
is a UN agency responsible for sustainable urban development and human settlements.

It was established in 1978 and has its headquarters in the
UN Office at Nairobi, Kenya.

UN-Habitat works in more than 70 countries in five
continents.

It focuses on seven areas like Urban Legislation, Land and Governance;
Urban Planning and Design; Urban Economy; Urban Basic Services; Housing and
Slum Upgrading; Risk Reduction and Rehabilitation; Urban Research and Capacity
Development

Government ups grain output estimate to record 273.38 MT for 2016-17 - 09 May 17

Highlights:

The food-grain production in India is estimated to touch
all-time high of 273.38 million tonnes in the 2016-17 crop year ending next
month due to good monsoon.

Rice production is projected to be 109.15 million tonnes
(MT), wheat - 97.44 MT and pulses – 22.40 MT in the 2016-17 crop year
(July-June).

The ministry releases four estimates at different stages of
crop growth before the final figures.

Now, rabi crops such as wheat are being harvested in full
swing. In the third estimate, foodgrain output is projected to be all-time high
at 273.38 MT for this year as against 251.57 MT last year.

The previous record was 265.04 MT in 2013-14. Foodgrain
basket comprises of rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses.

Wheat output has increased to 97.44 MT in 2016-17 from 92.29
MT last year as yields were better in the absence of any weather aberrations.

The previous record in wheat was 95.85 MT achieved in
2013-14.

Similarly, rice
output rose to 109.15 MT from 104.41 in the said period, while the previous
record was 106.65 MT in 2013-14.

Pulses output has gone up substantially to 22.40 MT in
2016-17 from 16.35 MT last year as the government encouraged farmers to grow
pulses in a big way by announcing higher support price and procurement.

Previous record in pulses was 19.25 MT in 2013-14.

Among pulses, tur output is projected to be a record 4.60
million tonnes in 2016-17 crop year as against 2.56 MT last year, while urad
output is 2.93 MT compared to 1.95 MT in the said period.

Coarse cereals production is also estimated to be a record
44.39 MT in 2016-17 as against 38.52 MT last year.

The previous record was 31.20 MT during the 2013-14 crop
year.

In case of oilseed, the output is estimated to be 32.52 MT
as against 25.25 MT.

Among cash crop, cotton output is estimated to increase to
32.58 million bales (of 170 kg each) in 2016-17 from 30.01 million bales in the
last year.

Sugarcane output is pegged at 306.03 MT, which is lower by
12.17 % than the last year’s production of 348.45 MT.

Production of Jute and Mesta is estimated at 10.27 million
bales (of 180 kg each), which is marginally lower by 2.39 % than 10.52
million bales during the last year.

Indian American Nominated for Key Post in FERC - 09 May 17

Highlights:

US President Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Neil
Chatterjee as a Member of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

FERC is an agency responsible for overseeing America’s power
grid and deciding on multibillion-dollar energy projects.

His term will expire on June 30, 2021. US Senate has to
confirm Chatterjee before he can be sworn in as member of Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission.

Neil Chatterjee Neil Chatterjee is a native of Kentucky.

He graduated from St Lawrence University and the University
of Cincinnati College of Law. Chatterjee has served as a principal in Government
Relations for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

He has also served as the energy policy advisor to US Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and was very active in passing major energy,
highway and farm legislations.

Jhulan Goswami has become the highest wicket-taker in
one-day internationals.

Goswami has so far taken 181 wickets in 153 matches.

She has broken the world record held by Australia fast
bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick who has taken 180 wickets during India’s ongoing
match against South Africa in the Women’s Quadrangular Series in Potchefstroom.

She achieved this feat with the wicket of No.11 batsman
Raisibe Ntozakhe of South Africa.

Jhulan Goswami Jhulan Goswami is a right arm fast bowler who
made her one-day debut back in 2002.

She is regarded as one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s
cricket.

Her best bowling figures is 6 for 31. So far, she has two
five-wicket hauls in ODIs.

She has awarded with Arjuna Award in 2010 and Padma Shri in
2012.

India may miss TB eradication target: Lancet study - 10 May 17

Highlights:

According to Lancet study, India may not be able to
eliminate tuberculosis by 2025 as targeted by the government.

Cases of drug resistant TB are expected to rise in four high
burden countries of India, the Philippines, Russia, and South Africa between
2000 and 2040.

The upturn is likely to be due to increased spread of TB
from person to person rather than by strains acquiring resistance to anti-TB
drugs, which has been so far considered the main hurdle in eradicating TB.

The study estimates that 12.4% of tuberculosis cases in
India will be multi-drug resistant by 2040, as compared to 7.9% in 2000.

In addition, almost one in ten cases of multi-drug-resistant
tuberculosis (MDR-TB) or 8.9% are expected to be extensively drug-resistant by
2040, as against 0.9% in 2000.

This digital filing system will mark Supreme Court’s first
towards becoming a paperless, digital court. The inaugural function was held at
Vigyan Bhavan when Prime Minister Modi uploaded the Integrated Case Management
System with the Supreme Court website.

The event was also attended by Law Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad and other judges of the Supreme Court. ICMIS is hailed as the Biggest
and highest leap in judicial system.

Subsequently, all High Courts, District Courts, Sub-Division
Courts will be integrated with the new system.

Later on, all the jails in the country will be Integrated by
ICMIS software.

Significance ICMIS will help litigants access data and
obtain information about the filing, delays etc.

It would pave way for the integration of all courts in the
country.

The appellants hereafter is not required to file the records
as the records will be picked up electronically from trial courts and high
courts.

The digital filing system will also help in ushering
transparency as nothing can be manipulated with this paperless system.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) has stayed the death
sentence given to Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan military court on charges of
'spying'.

The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed
his execution following India's submission that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran
where he was involved in business after retiring from the Navy.

India, in its appeal to the ICJ, accused Pakistan of
"egregious" violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

But Pakistan claimed to have arrested him from Balochistan
on March 3, 2016.

Following India's appeal, the ICJ stayed Jadhav's execution.

India, in its appeal, contended that it was not informed of
Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to
inform the accused of his rights.

It further asserted that, in violation of the Vienna
Convention, the Pakistani authorities were denying India its right of consular
access to Jadhav, despite repeated requests.

"Referring to 'the extreme gravity and immediacy of the
threat that authorities in Pakistan will execute an Indian citizen in violation
of obligations Pakistan owes to India', India urges the Court to deliver an
order indicating provisional measures immediately, 'without waiting for an oral
hearing.

Jadhav was given death sentence last month by the Field
General Court Martial in Pakistan.

The Pakistan army had released a statement last month.

He had been found guilty of "involvement in espionage
and sabotage activities" against the country.

Pakistan had alleged that Jadhav was "a serving
officer" in the Indian Navy and deputed to the Research and Analysis Wing
(R&AW) and had released a " confessional video " of Jadhav after
his arrest.

What is ICJ ?

ICJ International Court of Justice was established in 1945.

It is located in “The Hague” in Netherlands.

It is a part of the
United Nations.

The International Court of Justice acts as a world
court.

The judgement passed by the ICJ have binding force and are
without appeal for the parties concerned.

The major functions of the International Court of Justice
are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide advisory
opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international
organs, agencies, and the UN General Assembly.

Taranjeet Singh becomes New Country Director of Twitter - 10 May 17

Highlights:

International public internet media Twitter has elevated
Taranjeet Singh as its Country Director for India.

Prior to this appointment, Singh was responsible for sales
and marketing support for Twitter’s advertisers in India.

Before joining twitter, Taranjeet Singh held various
positions at BBC Advertising and Outlook Publishing etc.

India is among the lucrative social media markets in the
world.

It is already among the world’s fastest growing markets for
companies like Facebook, WhatsApp and Google.

Twitter has over 319 million users globally and counts India
among its top five audience markets. Twitter is a Microblogging platform and
allows its users to engage with peers, corporates and government using 140
characters.

Recently, Twitter launched its lighter version called
Twitter Lite to cater to the needs of users in India.

What is Twitter ?

Twitter is an online
news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages,
"tweets," restricted to 140 characters.

The head quarters of Twitter
Inc. is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

It has more than 25 offices around the world.

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah
Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams and launched in July.

The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity.

In 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million
tweets a day and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries
per day.[

Twitter has become internationally identifiable by its
signature bird logo.

South Korea Election: Moon Jae-in elected as President - 10 May 17

Highlights:

Democratic Party leader Moon Jae-in has been declared winner in South Korea’s
presidential election by that country’s National Election Commission.

Moon, the Democratic Party’s candidate has won with 41.08%
of votes.

Moon will replace the ousted President Park Geun-hye, who
was ejected from office in March after a corruption scandal for which she’s
awaiting trial.

Moon narrowly lost to Park in 2012 election.

Park was South Korea’s first female President who has been
impeached in a corruption scandal. Moon is a 64 year old former human rights
lawyer and a liberal who favors a more open policy toward North Korea.

He is likely to overhaul South Korea’s policy on North
Korea.

Unlike his predecessors, Moon favors engagement with North
Korea and has challenged the deployment of US missile defense system in South
Korea.

Moon is a strong proponent of the “Sunshine Policy”, which
aimed to improve relations between the two Koreas from 1998 to 2008.

Moon Jae-in Moon was the son of refugees who fled North
Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War.

In 1975, Moon was jailed for staging anti-government
protests .

Later, he became a human rights lawyer and defended the rights of poor laborers and
student activists.

In 1972, Moon became a part of a pro-democracy movement to
topple the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee.

Park Chung-hee ruled South Korea for 18 years. He was the
father of recently ousted President Park Geun-hye.

India beats China on list of Nepal’s top development partners - 11 May 17

Highlights:

India has again emerged as one of the top ODA (Official
Development Assistance) donors to Nepal, clawing its way back to the list of
top five bilateral development partners of the country.

India displaced from the list China which was ranked 4th
last year as a development partner in terms of ODA disbursement to Nepal.

Nepal finance ministry's latest Development Cooperation
Report on FY 2015/16 puts India+ at the 5th position behind US, UK, Japan and
Switzerland in the list of top ODA disbursers.

In FY 2014/15, for the first time in 5 years, India's name
had gone missing from the list of top 5 development partners of Nepal as its
ODA disbursement had plummeted by over 50 per cent that FY.

According to the latest report, India disbursed US $ 35.76
million from July 16 2015 to July 15 2016 to claim its place among the top 5
bilateral development partners of Nepal.

This is 3.33 per cent of total ODA received by Nepal in the
year.

China in the same period accounted for 3.29 per cent of the
overall ODA to Nepal.

In the previous FY, 2014/15, India had disbursed a little
over $22 million.

China had in the same year disbursed $ 37.95 million to
knock India out of the list of Nepal's top 5 development partners.

According to the report, the top 5 bilateral development
partners for FY 2015/16 are the USAID (US$ 118.93 million), United Kingdom (US$
89.47 million), Japan (US$ 45.91 million), Switzerland (US$ 36.98 million) and
India (US$35.76 million).

Like in the previous year, the latest report acknowledges
again that India, China and Korea also provide technical assistance to Nepal
through scholarships, training and study tour conducted in their countries and
which is not fully reflected in the total volume of assistance.

China's ascendancy in the list last year, which came at the
expense of India, caused a mini controversy here with MEA going all out to
prove that the figure of $ 22 million (India's aid disbursement in FY 2014/15)
was misleading .

According to MEA, actual funds released to assist Nepal
annually are in the range of Rs 300 to 400 crore annually, or over $50 to $70
million.

The discrepancy last year was attributed to the fact that a
large part of the aid is not routed through the Nepalese treasury.

India also mentioned last year that it had committed $1,400
million for Nepal's earthquake reconstruction work as against China's $766
million.

Nepal counted UK, US, Japan, China and Switzerland as its
top 5 bilateral development partners in FY 2014/15 on the basis of
disbursement, leaving out India from the list for the first time in past 5
years.

China though continues to retain its formidable presence in
Nepal as it accounted for as much as 68 % of all FDI pledged for Nepal in the
first half of ongoing fiscal year (2016/17).

This was a massive jump from China's 40 % share of the total
FDI pledged for Nepal by various countries in 2015-16.

Nepal is an important ally, Chinese are facilitating
Pakistans ISI people using Nepal connections and irritating with fake currency racket.

Online gaming industry in India to hit $1 bn by 2021 - 11 May 17

Highlights:

According to Google-KPMG report, the online gaming industry in India is
expected to grow to $1 billion by 2021 from the current $360 million – a growth
rate of 20 per cent – with the online gamers community reaching 310 million by
2021.

There has been a 117 % spike in searches for online games by
Indians.

It offers huge potential for developers and titled as “Online Gaming in India: 2021”.

The report is based on a primary qualitative and
quantitative research executed by global market research firm IMRB that covered
over 3,000 respondents across 16 geographies.

The respondents were in the age group of 16-45 years who own
smartphones and tablets/laptop/PC with internet connection.

The report provided a detailed overview of the online gaming
industry in India, its potential growth, the challenges and growth
opportunities for developers.

The report also highlighted the consumer insights in terms
of demographics and their gaming preference, their usage and spending patterns.

Shashank Manohar to serve on as ICC Chairman till June 2018 - 11 May 17

Highlights:

Mr. Manohar, architect of the new ICC Constitution and
Financial structure, acceded to the wishes of the majority of the 13-member ICC
Board to complete his first two-year term as chairman of the world cricket
body.

Shashank Manohar will continue as Independent Chairman of
the International Cricket Council (ICC) till June 2018.

He was elected as the ICC’s first Independent Chairman in
May 2016.

Mr. Manohar won many friends in the ICC Board and across the
cricketing fraternity, after he took the initiative to overturn a clutch of
resolutions passed in 2014.

The Big Three powerhouse of the cricket
boards of India, Australia and England to control the administration, financial
matters and competitions.

Former West Indies captain Vivian Richards recently praised
Mr. Manohar for the position he took on governance issues and money matters.

The ICC Board meeting in Dubai on April 26 to provide leadership during the implementation of changes that is expected to be approved at the 105- member AGM in London on June 23.

Mr. Manohar is open to the idea of giving the BCCI an
additional $100 million to the $293 million already apportioned.

The BCCI has delegated its Joint Secretary Amitabh Choudhary
to take up the BCCI’s concerns with the ICC Chairman, who has also shared his
thoughts with the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators,
especially with its Chairman, Vinod Rai, and Vikram Limaye.

The task force will recommend solutions which can be
implemented in a time bound manner.

The Prime Minister has directed that this task be expedited
so that policies on employment can be formulated with a proper appreciation of
impacts, based on credible data.

The government attaches the highest priority to job
creation.

India suffers from a lack of reliable, timely data on
employment which has made it difficult for policy makers and independent
observers to assess the extent of employment generation at different points of
time.

Some data is collected and published by certain agencies
including the Labour Bureau, but the coverage is very small.

It was noted that the Labour Bureau data covers only a few
sectors and the methodology is not based on updated panel of survey
respondents.

The net result has been that both policy making and analysis
are conducted in a data vacuum.

The Prime Minister has directed the PMO and concerned
ministries to come up with a solution to fill this long standing gap in the country’s
statistical architecture.

India to import LPG from Iran to meet rising demand - 11 May 17

Highlights:

India has for the first time ever signed a contract to
import LPG from Iran as it looks at additional sources of cooking fuel to meet
rising domestic demand.

State-owned oil firms will import one very large gas carrier
(VLGC), or 44,000 tonnes, per month for an initial six-month period.

India imports almost a million tonnes of LPG every month to
meet rising demand that has been further fuelled by the government drive to
give free gas connections to poor women.

LPG imports will rise over the next three years to 16-17
million tonnes as the government pushes for making available cooking gas
cylinders to the poor and wean them off polluting fuels.

The country is looking to import LPG from Bangladesh.

India had imported 8.8 million tonnes of LPG in 2015-16.

Imports last year made India the world’s second-largest
importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), behind China.

It overtook Japan, which imported 10.6 million tonnes. Last
May, the government launched a programme to provide free cooking gas connection
to poor women with a view to cut on use of firewood and polluting fuels like
dried cow dung.

LPG demand is projected to grow by 9.7 % to 23.7 million
tonnes in the current fiscal and is likely to touch 35 million tonnes by
2031-32.

A record 3.45 crore LPG connections were given during the
fiscal ended March 31, 2017, including 2.2 crore free connections to poor
women.

This has taken the number of LPG consumers to 20.08 crore.
As many as 6 crore connections have been given in last three years, taking LPG
to 72.84 % of the population.

The government is targeting giving out 3 crore connections
including 1.5-2 crore under the free LPG connection scheme during the 2017-18
fiscal and another 4 crore in the following year.

This would help take LPG coverage to 95.49 % of the
population.

Sanjay Mitra to be next Defence Secretary of India - 12 May 17

Highlights:

Road and Transport Secretary Sanjay Mitra will be the next
Defence Secretary.

Sanjay Mitra is a
1982 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

He will succeed G. Mohan Kumar whose tenure ends May 24, 2017.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved his
appointment initially as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Defence Ministry.

Rajive Kumar, Secretary in Shipping Ministry, has been given
the additional charge of the post of the Secretary, Road Transport and
Highways.

Besides him, five new secretaries have been appointed in
different central government departments.

Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma will be the Tourism
Secretary. She is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

Anant Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary in Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be Textiles Secretary in place of Ms Verma.

Jagdish Prasad Meena will be the Secretary, Department of
Consumer Affairs. Mr Meena is at present Special Secretary, Ministry of Food
Processing Industries.

Leena Nair, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child
Development, has been moved to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the same
capacity.

Rakesh Srivastava will be the new Secretary in the Ministry
of Women and Child Development.

Mr Srivastava, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre,
is at present Member Secretary, the National Commission for Backward Classes.

The ACC has also approved additional charge of the post of
Secretary, Department of Telecommunications to Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary,
Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.

She will continue to hold the additional charge till
appointment of a regular incumbent, it said.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also approved
the appointment of Brij Raj Sharma as Additional Secretary, the Ministry of
Home Affairs.

Mr Sharma, a 1984 batch IAS officer, is working in his cadre
state - Jammu and Kashmir.

United States (US) tennis player Serena Williams continued
to lead the Women`s Tennis Association world rankings released with 7,010 points.

German Angelique Kerber remained in second place, followed
by Czech Karolina Pliskova in third.

Spanish Garbine Muguruza jumped two spots to fourth
position, while Romanian Simona Halep dropped down four places to eighth
position.

Current WTA rankings :

1. Serena Williams (US) 7,010 points

2. Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6,945

3. Karolina Pliskova (Czech) 5,946

4. Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) 4,627

5. Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 4,475

6. Johanna Konta (Britain) 4,425

7. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 4,255

8. Simona Halep (Romania) 4,206

9. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 4,060

10. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 3,955.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra named new ambassador to France - 12 May 17

Highlights:

Seasoned diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as
the next ambassador to France.

He,currently a joint secretary in the Prime Minister's
Office.

He is a 1988-batch foreign service officer.

Mr.Kwatra will succeed Mohan Kumar, who is retiring.

He has served in Indian diplomatic missions in China and the
USA.

He has experience of dealing with the UN organisations such
as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

He has also held the position of joint secretary incharge of
the counter-terrorism division in the MEA.

WHO Appoints Amitabh Bachchan As Goodwill Ambassador For Hepatitis - 12 May 17

Highlights:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) appointed Amitabh
Bachchan as its goodwill ambassador.

He has appointed for hepatitis in South-East Asia region to
boost awareness and intensify action to arrest the epidemic.

WHO's efforts in reducing the high numbers of premature
deaths and illnesses from viral hepatitis which is not only causing hardships
to individuals and families, but also impacting health and development across
the South-East Asia region.

Nearly 90 million people suffer from chronic liver diseases,
which are driving rates of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the region.

As per the national immunisation schedule of countries in
the region, hepatitis B vaccination - a dose within 24 hours of birth followed
by three doses in the first six months of life - provides protection and
prevents mother-to-child transmission of the disease.

Bachchan's support will reinforce WHO's efforts to end
hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

The megastar will also be advocating for the full
implementation of WHO South-East Asia Region's action plan for hepatitis which
seeks to provide a road map for sustainable prevention, diagnosis, treatment
and care for all forms of hepatitis within the universal health care framework.

This is the first formal association between WHO and Mr
Bachchan, who had served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Polio in India.

The veteran actor has been supporting and promoting various
health and related issues in the country such as childhood immunisation
programme, tuberculosis and Clean India campaign.

May 12 is observes as World Chronic Fatigue Day 2017 - 12 May 17

Highlights:

May 12th is recognised as International Awareness Day for
Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND).

The day has been observed since 1992.

The CIND illnesses include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS),
which is something not a lot of people are aware of.

People may be suffering from it, but they often fail to
associate it with an actual disease.

The date May 12th was chosen because it is the birthday of
Florence Nightingale, who was believed to have suffered from Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome.

This day is important because it creates awareness about
this disease, which is often brushed aside as modern hysteria when in fact it is
very real.

What is Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome?

Fatigue, also be known as tiredness or exhaustion.

It is the state of being physically or mentally tired to
such an extent that it starts showing in your daily life as an obstruction to
the tasks that you may normally be able to carry out without getting tired.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the constant, severe state of
tiredness that is not relieved by rest.

The symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are similar to that
of flu, last longer than six months and interfere with certain activities.

It is an unfortunate condition which leaves you feeling
tired, sleepless, sluggish and very lethargic.

A typical patient is one who's had a normal life but
suddenly starts to feel tired and it worsens over the course of time.

People commonly mistake fatigue as signs of ageing.

Causes of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome:

Since the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are similar
to that of flu, some experts suggest that it could be due to some sort of
microbial infection whereas others pinpoint psychological stress. Some of the
most common causes of fatigue include sleep deprivation, prolonged physical or
mental work, or extended periods of stress and anxiety.

Symptoms of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome:

The symptoms could vary from mild to severe.

It starts with severe fatigue for a period of six months,
which is not because of exertion, and isn't relieved by sleep or rest. Other
symptoms include -

The transgenic crop, Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) has
been developed by the Delhi University's Centre for Genetic Manipulation of
Crop Plants.

If it gets the central government's nod, it will still take
at least 4-5 years for GM Mustard to actually reach the fields. Right now, GM
cotton is the only transgenic crop commercially available in fields.

GM Mustard with yields up to 30 % higher than normal
varieties will help the government to cut down on its expenditure.

However, opposition to lab-altered food remains fierce.

While the pro-GM Mustard lobby says it will boost farmers'
earnings -- minimum cost of production and higher yields -- environmentalists
said besides being unsafe for human beings as well as animals, it will also
pave the way for other GM food crops.

Anti-GM activists and farmers had last year approached PM
Modi demanding rejection of GM Mustard.

Molecular biologist Pushpa M Bhargava had called the
introduction of GM Mustard to be "disastrous" that it
would eventually open the doors for multinational corporations to control
India's agriculture.

The RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has also
criticised the GEAC approval.

The commercial use of GM mustard would impact allied
agricultural activities.

Experts are expecting the centre to allow the sale of only
locally developed varieties to prevent the monopolisation of India's GM seed
industry by foreign firms.

Sarson Satyagraha that represents numerous farmer
organisations, consumers and scientists alleges the GEAC has "failed to
protect citizens from risks of GMOs".

It is noted that ,earlier in the case of BT Brinjal, the
government behaved irresponsibly and unscientifically.

In this case, it is a hazardous herbicide tolerant food
crop, which has direct implications for a large number of Indian farmers,
agricultural workers and consumers.

IIT Kharagpur collaborates with British Geological Survey to turn Varanasi into smart city - 13 May 17

Highlights:

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has
collaborated with the British Geological Survey to turn Varanasi into a smart
city.

Three dimensional geological modelling of the geology under
Varanasi will be prepared to help improve the building of new transport and
service infrastructure.

Further, the preservation of archaeological sites and the
management of flooding hazards and the sustainability of water supplies would
also be undertaken.

The potential degradation of resources and environment
affects both the city and its rural hinterland (catchment) but few studies
consider them as a linked ecosystem.

Faculty members Probal Sengupta (Geology and Geophysics) and
Joy Sen (Architecture and Regional Planning & RGCGSIDM) are working as
co-Investigators in the project.

It aims to delineate the evolution of Varanasi and other
future of cities of India, from the hazard zonation/mitigation of the city.

The retrieved information on rock and sediment lithologies,
physical and chemical characteristics, geotechnical properties, hazard
potential and groundwater distribution and flow will lead to construction of a
multi-scale 3D conceptual model to allow visualisation of the ground beneath
the city.

It would be the first major 3D subsurface urban study and
planning of its kind in India, with the ultimate aim of developing
methodologies and input of suburban geology for planning and hazard risk
assessment.

ISRO's most powerful rocket planned to be launched in June ,2017 - 13 May 17

Highlights:

India plans to launch next month its most powerful rocket
that is capable of transporting a heavier 4-tonne communications satellite.

It is described as a "game-changer" in the first
of its kind space mission.

Aiming for a greater share of the multi-billion dollar
global space market and to reduce dependency on international launching
vehicles.

It is hoping to launch the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle(GSLV) Mark-III in the first week of June.

A successful launch of this rocket will be yet another major
step towards being self-reliant in the country's space programme.

The ISRO currently has the capability to launch payloads of up
to 2.2 tonnes into the intended orbit and anything above that it had to tap
foreign launch facilities.

Currently, ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar

The ISRO views operationalisation of this rocket as a
"game-changer" mission.

GSLV Mark-III will be India's most powerful launch vehicle
built to lift the heaviest Indian communications satellites to space.

It can put satellites weighing 4 tonnes in space, double the
weight that the current GSLV-Mark-II can lift.

It will also enable ISRO to launch from India heavier
communications spacecraft to geostationary orbits of 36,000 km.

Because of the absence of a powerful launcher, ISRO
currently launches satellites above 2 tonnes on European rockets for a big fee.

The GSLV Mark-III is intended to launch satellites into
geostationary orbit and as a launcher for an Indian crew vehicle.

It features an Indian cryogenic third stage and a higher
payload capacity than the current GSLV.

The satellite would carry Ka and Ku-band payload along with
a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor and study the
nature of the charged particles and influence of space radiation on spacecraft
and electronic components.

It would also employ advanced spacecraft technologies
including bus subsystem experiments in electrical propulsion system, indigenous
Li-ion battery and indigenous bus bars for power distribution, among others.

The technology on lithium ion batteries developed by ISRO is
good for space programme in terms of cost-effectiveness, but it requires the
efforts of industry to develop it to reduce costs.

He created the sculpture of Buddha on the occasion of the
14th International Vesak Day Celebrations in Colombo.

Vesak Day is also called Budhha Day or Buddha Purnima.

Before that, on May 6, he created a sculpture of
Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary.

This work was created in Puri in Odisha.

In February, Pattnaik added yet another feature to his cap
by storming into Guinness World Records for having created the world's tallest
sand castle on Puri beach.

The previous Guinness record was reserved in the name of
American artist Ted Siebert, who had built a 13.97 metre high (45 ft) sand
castle at Miami beach in 2015.

Sudarsan broke the previous record by building a 14.84 metre
high (48.8 ft) castle in the backdrop of the Bay of Bengal in Puri.

World Bank's power list: India jumps 73 spots to 26 rank - 14 May 17

Highlights:

According to the World Bank's electricity accessibility
ranking India has climbed to 26th position.

India government pegged that by 2019 the government would able to take
power to every household.

India had 99th spot in 2014 and it jumps 73 spots to reach 26th position.

The government was closely working with the states to see
that electricity was made available on tap.

the Vienna Energy Forum was held on May 11.

Elaborating on energy access to all, everyone was actually
impressed about India that has actually led the global efforts by its action to
address the challenge of the planet change.

The government's rural electrification programme is
proceeding swiftly, with over 13,000 villages electrified out of a total of
18,452 and is on track for completion within the targeted 1,000 days.

India's Longest Bridge will be inaugurated in Assam Near China Border - 14 May 17

Highlights:

India's longest river bridge will be inaugurated in Assam
close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The bridge has capable of withstanding the weight of a
60-tonne battle tank With the inauguration of the 9.15-km-long Dhola-Sadiya
bridge over the Brahmaputra river.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start the celebrations of
the NDA government's three years in office from this eastern-most part of
Assam.

It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in
Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.

The bridge is seen as an attempt by India to shore up its
defence requirements along the Sino-Indian border, particularly in the
northeast, besides providing easy access to the people of Arunachal Pradesh and
Assam with air and rail connectivity.

It will bolster the road connectivity in the Northeast as
the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides
defence forces extensively.

The construction of the bridge began in 2011 at a project
cost of Rs. 950 crore.

The design is such that the bridge can withstand the
movement of military tanks.

The bridge is located 540-km away from Assam's capital
Dispur and 300 km away from Arunachal Pradesh's capital Itanagar.

The aerial distance to the Chinese border is less than 100
km.

After Kaliabhomora bridge near Tezpur, there is no bridge
over the Brahmaputra for the next 375 km upstream till Dhola, where the new
bridge is constructed.

Currently, all transportation between the river's two banks
is carried out through water only.

The bridge, when opened for the public, will cut down the
travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by as much as four hours.

As there is no civilian airport in Arunachal Pradesh, this
bridge will help people of the state to reach the nearest rail head in Tinsukia
and the airport in Dibrugarh easily.

The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2015.

The BJP government in Assam will complete one year in office
on May 24.

The bridge is one of the key projects of the Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways in the Northeast and is built in public-private
partnership with a construction company.

Later, Capt R.A. Shah laid wreath for the martyrs of the
First and Second World War at Yangon War cemetery.

During the visit, 35 Indian Naval officers visited the
Myanmar Naval Training Command and 35 Myanmar Navy officers and 160 under
trainee sea cadets visited the ship and were given a guided tour of the ship.

Indian Naval ships Shivalik, and Jyoti visit Malaysia - 15 May 17

Highlights:

Indian Naval Ships Shivalik, and Jyoti reached Malaysia`s
Kuantan.

Both are on overseas deployment to Southeast Asia and
Southern Indian Ocean,.

During the stay at Kuantan harbour till May 19, various
activities such as official calls, formal reception on board ships, ships open
to visitors, guided tours for Indian naval personnel and professional
interaction between naval personnel of both the nations have been planned.

The visit of the Indian Naval Ships seeks to underscore
India`s peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly and harmonious countries
towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing
bonds between India and Malaysia.

The current deployment will contribute towards the Indian
Navy`s efforts to consolidate inter-operability and forge strong bonds of
friendship across the seas.

INS Shivalik is a multi-role stealth frigate while INS Jyoti
is a fleet replenishment tanker.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu have secured first and second rankings
for the second consecutive year in public affairs index (PAI) released by the
Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru.

Gujarat has been ranked third followed by Karnataka and
Maharashtra at the fourth and fifth position respectively in governance
indicators.

The last four positions among the large states has been
occupied by Bihar (18th), Jharkhand (17th), Odisha (16th) and Assam (15th).

Among the 12 small states which have been categorised as
small as they have population less than two crore, Himachal Pradesh has been
ranked first followed by Goa and Mizoram.

Delhi which occupied third position in 2016 index has
slipped to ninth position in 2017.

The last four positions among small states have been
occupied Meghalaya (12th), Arunachal Pradesh (11th) and Jammu and Kashmir
(10th).

The survey was carried out based on 10 themes, 26 focus
subjects and 82 indicators.

The report was based on the following themes: essential
infrastructure, support to human development, social protection, women and
children, crime, law and order, delivery of justice, environment, transparency
and accountability, fiscal management and economic freedom.

In the category of women and children, Kerala has been
adjudged as the best performer while Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra are
poor performers.

In the category of fiscal management, Telangana has been
adjudged as the best performer while Andhra Pradesh has been labelled as the
poor performer.

In maintaining law and order, delivery of justice and
environment categories, Tamil Nadu has been adjudged as the best performer but
the state has been ranked last in the parameter of transparency and
accountability in the administration.

In the category of economic freedom, Gujarat has secured top
rank while Bihar has secured the last rank.

PAC Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru had come up with
a Public Affairs Index (PAI) to rank governance inter-state by using data
available in the public domain in key areas of governance.

Public Affairs
Centre (PAC) is a not for profit think tank, established in 1994 with a mandate
to improve the quality of governance in India.

The genesis of PAC is attributed to Dr. Samuel Paul in the
early nineties.

The objective of Public Affairs Index (PAI) is an attempt to
bring together the states of the country which are culturally, economically and
socially diverse, into a common data-driven framework in order to facilitate an
interstate comparison.

He has won three straight titles after Barcelona Open and
Monte Carlo Masters victories.

Nadal will also move into the world’s top four replacing
18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the new rankings.

Nadal has won his 30th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title
tying the all-time record with Serbia’s Novok Djokovic.

The Madrid Open is a men’s and women’s professional tennis
tournament held every year in early May in Madrid, Spain.

The tournament is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters
1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour.

Arjun Maini becomes First Indian to Win a GP3 Race - 15 May 17

Highlights:

The 19-year-old
Motorsports’ Indian driver Arjun Maini has become the first Indian to win a GP3
Series (a feeder series to GP2) race at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

He drives for Jenzer Motorsport,

Arjun Maini is supported by JK Racing and TVS.

This victory has moved Arjun Maini into third place in the
driver’s championship standings after completion of the first round of the
eight-round GP3 series.

He has 23 points. Nirei Fukuzumi of Japan leads the
championship standings with 29 points, followed by Alessio Lorandi of Italy
with 25 points.

This is the third instance that the Indian National Anthem
was played during an F1 weekend with the first two played after Karun
Chandhok’s two wins in GP2.

English Premier League (EPL) -2017: Chelsea won the 2016-17 edition - 15 May 17

Highlights:

Chelsea clinched the English Premier League (EPL) title for
2016-17 after its 1-0 win against West Bromwich in its 36th round match on 13
May 2017.

This is the sixth EPL title for Chelsea.

This edition of EPL concludes on 21 May 2017 but Chelsea is
ensured to finish on top.

EPL is the top English professional league for association
football clubs. I

t was established in 1992.

Brazil declared an end to its public health emergency for the Zika virus - 15 May 17

Highlights:

South American nation Brazil declared an end to its public
health emergency for the Zika virus, 18 months after a surge in cases drew
headlines around the world.

Zika, carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, wasn’t
considered a major health threat until the 2015 outbreak revealed that it could
lead to severe birth defects.

One of those defects, microcephaly, causes babies to be born
with skulls much smaller than expected.

The health scare came just as Brazil was preparing to host
the 2016 Olympics, fuelling concerns the Games could help spread the virus.

In response to the outbreak, Brazil launched a mosquito-
eradication campaign.

The Health Ministry said those efforts have helped to
dramatically reduce cases of Zika.

India and Bhutan skipped the “Belt and Road Forum” summit - 16 May 17

Highlights:

The ambitious 2-day “Belt and Road Forum” started in
Beijing from 14 May 2017 as China positioned itself as the new global leader
and chief advocate for free trade.

India skipped the summit in keeping with its
principle of taking local sentiments on board.

The neighbour of India , Bhutan also skipped the summit.

India decided to boycott the “Belt and Road Forum” as a mark
of protest against the infringement of its sovereignty by the China- Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The summit was also skipped by Bhutan.

The summit was
immensely successful with as many as 29 world leaders and representatives from
countries across the continents were participated

With the summit, China emerged as the new
defender of globalisation, countering the resistance to open economic borders
in the U.S. and parts of Europe, with a solid integrative plan.

The summit was organized by China to showcase its plans to
build a network of trade routes under the One Belt – One Road (OBOR).

OBOR is
an ambitious China’s ambitious development strategy and framework that aims to
boost its connectivity and trade that will that will connect Asia, Africa, the
Middle East and Europe.

They made it in 45.3 overs and become the world’s first pair to forge a
300-run opening-wicket partnership in One-Day Internationals (ODIs).

The earlier best partnership for the first wicket in men’s
cricket was 286 scored by Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya
against England in 2006.

The best partnership for the first wicket for women’s
cricket was 268 scored by Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins against South Africa
in 2008.

Also, Deepti Sharma’s 188 runs is now the second highest
score in women’s one-day international only behind Australia’s Belinda Clark’s
unbeaten 229 against Denmark in 1997.

She has also bettered the 138 runs scored by Jaya Sharma
against Pakistan in 2005.

The stellar performance of Deepti and Poonam resulted in
India’s massive 249-run win over Ireland in the quadrangular series in
Potchefstroom ,South Africa.

Edouard Philippe appointed as French PM by President Emmanuel Macron - 16 May 17

Highlights:

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed a conservative
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

The 46 year old Edouard Philippe is a lawmaker and mayor of the port city of
Le Havre.

The appointment of Mr. Philippe, a moderate from France’s
mainstream right-wing party Les Republicains, is seen as a strategic move that
could secure the support Mr.

Macron needs to win a majority in the 577-seat National
Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, which goes to the polls next month.

This is the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic
that a President has appointed someone from outside his own party without being
explicitly required to do so by a parliamentary vote.

Mr. Macron who was Economy Minister in the Socialist
government during 2014-16.

He already enjoys considerable support among former
Socialists, including former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, against whom La
Republique en Marche (REM).

The French Prime Minister is required to have the support of
the majority of MPs in its National Assembly and Mr.

Philippe’s appointment is being seen as the President
reaching out to the right – a move that could help his party push reforms
through Parliament.

Mr. Macron was elected on a platform that promised reforms
to labour and social security laws, training for workers, and relaunching the
European Union.

Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Philippe has worked in the private
sector, including for French nuclear giant Areva and an American law firm.

Mr. Philippe’s early political leanings were with the
Socialist Party, but later he came to be associated with former President
Jacques Chirac and former centre-right Prime Minister Alain Juppe’s Union for a
Popular Movement.

Mr. Juppe, also a presidential hopeful, lost the Les
Republicains primaries in 2016.

Valdez, a veteran reporter who specialized in covering drug
trafficking and organized crime, was slain an unidentified killer in the northern Mexico state of Sinaloa.

The latest in a wave of journalist killings in one of the
world's most dangerous countries for media workers.

Valdez was an
award-winning reporter who specialized in covering drug trafficking and
organized crime, was slain in the northern state of Sinaloa, long a hotbed of
drug cartel activity.

Javier Valdez was driving in broad daylight down a street he
must have known well, just a block from his office, when he became the latest
victim of a wave of journalist killings that has hit Mexico.

Masked gunmen forced Valdez from his red Toyota Camry, shot
him dead and left his body in the middle of the street.

The car was found later in the afternoon on a sidewalk next
to an elementary school, wedged between a utility pole and a wall with the
motor still running and the gears engaged.

Valdez was also a correspondent for the national newspaper
La Jornada.

He was an internationally recognized journalist who authored
several books on the drug trade.

According to CPJ, in 2009 unknown attackers threw a grenade
into the Riodoce offices days after it published an investigation on drug
trafficking.

By the group’s count, some 40 journalists have been killed
in Mexico for reasons confirmed as related to their work since 1992.

An additional 50 were slain during the same period under
circumstances that have not been clarified.

Journalists targeted in Mexico are most often local
reporters in places where the rule of law is tenuous, but there have also been
killings of journalists with national profiles such as Valdez and Regina
Martinez Perez, who was slain in 2012.

The recent spate of slayings includes Miroslava Breach,
correspondent for La Jornada in the northern state of Chihuahua, who was gunned
down in March.

Sinaloa has long been a drug trafficking center and is home
to the Sinaloa Cartel headed by notorious kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman,
who is in a New York prison awaiting trial on multiple charges.

Guzman’s arrest last year and extradition in January have
led to upheaval in the area as rival factions war for control of the gang.

Valdez was recognized with the International Press Freedom
Award in 2011 by CPJ, which released a report this month warning that
widespread impunity leaves journalists vulnerable to attacks in Mexico.

According to ship tracking data obtained from sources and
data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts, Iraq replaced
Saudi Arabia as top crude supplier to India in April as refiners moved to boost
their processing margins by purchasing the cheaper Basra Heavy oil grade.

India’s April imports from Iraq topped 1 million barrels per
day (bpd) for the first time, up by about a third from March and 8 percent from
a year ago.

Basra heavy is good for refineries with coker units, it is
also good for conventional refiners that make bitumen as that is in demand in
India.

Indian refiners in recent years have invested heavily in
modernising plants to more efficiently process low grade crudes into diesel and
gasoline, helping to boost operating margins and giving greater flexibility in
the oil grades they can buy.

This has allowed refiners in the third-largest oil consumer
to shop around during periods of tightness, and remain profitable in a
fast-growing, cost-sensitive market.

India’s crude mix is highly diverse as a result, with just
over 15 percent of its flows stemming from Africa in April, nearly 13 percent
from Latin America, and most of the rest coming from the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, usually India’s main supplier, shipped about
750,000 bpd to the South Asian nation in April.

India’s lower Saudi purchases were partly due to firmer
Saudi prices following the production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) since January.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia,
but so far has been resistant to an aggressive cut given its reliance on oil
revenues to fund its economy.

A delay to Venezuelan oil loadings due to problems at a
major port helped to boost India’s demand for Iraqi oil, and India also took
more Russian Urals crude.

Iran emerged as the third-biggest oil supplier to India in
April, replacing Venezuela, which slipped to the fifth spot, behind Nigeria.

Nepal is in talks with China to build a cross-border rail
link that may cost up to $8 billion.

The funding could be expected after Nepal formally signed up
to Beijing's Belt and Road initiative.

the proposed 550 kilometre-long railway would connect
China's western Tibet region to Nepal's capital of Kathmandu and will carry
goods and passengers.

The Himalayan nation officially signed an agreement to be
part of President Xi Jinping's ambitious plan to build a new Silk Road.

the two countries had been in discussions for the past five
months about the project, which could cost $7-8 billion and take up to eight
years to complete.

Nepal planned to start preparing a detailed project report
for the railway, and that they had yet to decide how much funding they will
seek from China.

The railway will travel over 400 kilometres in China to the
Nepal border, and then about another 150 kilometres from the Nepali border to
Kathmandu, he said.

China last year agreed to consider building a railway into
Nepal and to start a feasibility study for a free trade agreement with
impoverished, landlocked Nepal,.

China has touted what it formally calls the Belt and Road
initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan
in 2013.

It has aim to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond
underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

Cabinet approves setting up of Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Assam - 17 May 17

Highlights:

The government decided
to set up Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Assam at a cost of
over Rs 155 crore to promote agri-education and realise second green revolution
in the north eastern region.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the setting up of Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (lARI) in Assam.

lARI-Assam would be a Post-Graduate Institution of higher
learning in Agricultural Education.

It will have the hallmark identity of an IARI including all
sectors of agriculture like field crops, horticultural crops, agro-forestry,
animal husbandry, fisheries, poultry, piggery, silk rearing, honey production,
etc.

It will be an off-campus of IARI, New Delhi and integrated
multi-disciplinary research would be undertaken in school mode i.e. Schools of
Crop Sciences, Natural Resource Management, and Animal Sciences &
Fisheries.

IARI-Assam would work on the agrarian challenges and
complexities of North Eastern India in tandem with all existing Central and
State Government R&D Institutions and Private sector enterprises.

It would undertake research, education, extension programs
in its mission towards developing quality human resource, generation of
farmer-friendly technologies to enhance productivity, quality and
profitability, promote agro-based industries and generate employment
opportunities for holistic and sustainable development of the agriculture
sector in the North Eastern region.

The first IARI was set up in the national capital way back
in 1967.

The Modi government announced plans to set up four such
institutes the Budget 2014-15.

The work to set up an IARI in Ranchi (Jharkhand) has
started.

The IARI-Assam was delayed as the previous government did
not give land.

The current government has given 587 acres of land and work
will start.

The Cabinet has approved the agriculture ministry’s proposal
to set up an IARI in Dhemaji district in Assam. It has also approved 98
positions.

It will promote research in agriculture and benefit eight
north eastern states.

Development of north eastern region is a priority for the
government and has the potential to bring second green revolution.

IARI-Assam would work on the agrarian challenges and
complexities of North Eastern India in coordination with all existing central
and state government research and development Institutions and private sector
enterprises.

It will be an off-campus of IARI, New Delhi, and undertake
integrated multi-disciplinary research through Schools of Crop Sciences,
Natural Resource Management, and Animal Sciences and Fisheries.

The government has added
a new dimension to its fight against black money in the country as it launched
a website ' Operation Clean Money '.

The new website will help honest tax payers.

It is no longer safe to deal with excessive cash, tax-evaded
money.

The fallout of the November 8 decision to demonetise higher
denomination currency has increased movement towards digitisation, number of
assessees going up and tax revenue jumping as also fear of dealing in cash
being installed.

Post demonetisation, there has been a hike in collection of
personal income tax.

The undisclosed
income of Rs 16,398 crore has been identified post demonetisation.

There was 22 % growth
in e-filed returns post demonetisation.

As many as 17.92 lakh people were identified for unexplained
deposits post demonetisation.

About 17.92 lakh
persons in whose case the cash transactions did not appear in line with the
taxpayers' profiles.

Of the 17.92 lakh, so far 9.72 lakh individuals responded to
SMSes and e-mails sent by the income tax department.

It potentially acting as a dampener for similar
listings in coming months of high-yield securities that are tapping investors’
appetite for stronger returns.

IRB InvIT Fund fell 0.8 % in early morning trade,
reversing gains of as much as 2.9 % shortly after opening.

It traded at 101.20 rupees, compared with the 102 rupees
initial public offering price.

The fund, which owns, operates and maintains a portfolio of
six toll-road assets, raised $782 million in an IPO that was oversubscribed and
priced at the top of expectations.

The performance of the fund, which was priced to yield 12% a year, will be closely watched by other issuers looking to raise at
least $1.3 billion in similar deals this year.

Infrastructure investment trusts and real estate investment
trusts (REITs) are entities that invest in rent-yielding assets and distribute
most of their income to shareholders as dividends.

IRB InvIT Fund was the largest of a series of InvITs
expected to tap Indian equity markets in coming months, including Reliance
Infrastructure InvIT fund’s $388 million deal, India Grid Trust’s $350 million,
and others from MEP Infrastructure Developers and IL&FS Transportation
InvITs.

The IPO was subscribed 8.6 times. Investors including
Singapore government entities bought shares of IRB InvIT in the anchor portion
of the sale.

Cabinet clears proposal to build 10 nuclear power plants - 18 May 17

Highlights:

The Union Cabinet cleared the building of 10 new nuclear power plants.

It will add 7000MW to India's nuclear power generation
capacity.

These will be the indigenous 700 MW pressurised heavy water
reactors (PHWRs).

India has been ramping up its nuclear power capacity, the
significance of the decision lies in the scale of the project.

It will make it easier for the domestic industry to raise
supply capacities and lower costs.

The new reactors would be in addition to the ones that are
expected to come on stream by 2021-22.

It will add 6700 MW in addition to the current capacity of
6780 MW from 22 reactors.

The reactors under construction are Kudankulam, Kakrapar and
Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant (RAPP).

The new reactors
would come up in "fleet mode as a fully homegrown initiative.

It would be one of the flagship 'Make in India' projects in
this sector.

J&K state may be first to bring real estate under new regime - 18 May 17

Highlights:

Jammu & Kashmir may be the first state in the country to
bring real estate within the ambit of goods and services tax (GST) when it
enacts laws to integrate its indirect tax regime with other states.

The Centre and the states had amended the Constitution
to move to GST.

J&K will have to enact its own laws as it has a special
dispensation under the Indian Constitution.

the required legislation in J&K assembly to be part of
GST and ensure the benefits accrue to the state.

The shift is expected to help the state garner around Rs
2,000 crore-worth additional resources to add to its current kitty of around Rs
11,000 crore and expand the tax base by close to 15%.

the GST Council has agreed to subsume several taxes,
including central excise, state VAT, service tax, central sales tax and octroi,
it has kept around a third of state revenues outside the GST ambit.

Alcohol, petroleum and real estate are three items on which
GST will not be levied.

J&K has moved to a January-December financial year.

It was first to abolish the distinction between plan and
non-plan spending and is now working on rolling out universal basic income.

Beas railway station is cleanest station in India followed by Vishakhapatnam - 18 May 17

Highlights:

According to a survey released by the railways ,Beas railway
station is the cleanest, followed by Vishakhapatnam and Khammam, out of 407
stations in India.

Among the 75 bigger and busy railway stations, Visakhapatnam
is on top, followed by Secunderabad and Jammu.

New Delhi station was ranked 39 among the most busy stations
while Bangalore City is at 10th position, Hyderabad at 16th, Mumbai Central at
27th and Chennai Central at 49th rank.

Anand Vihar (Delhi) is at number five, just behind
Vijayawada and ahead of Lucknow in the ranking of 75 busy stations.

Among stations in the capital, Anand Vihar is at 10th
position in overall ranking while Nizamuddin has bagged 74th, Old Delhi station
75th and at New Delhi station is way back at 139th rank.

Stations at Jogbani, Madhubani and Sagauli (Bihar) - are the dirtiest in the overall
ranking.

Among the most busy stations, Darbhanga (Bihar) was the
dirtiest, followed by Bhopal and Ambala.

She also made a name for herself in TV shows like Tu Tu Main
Main and Shrimaan Shrimati. She was last seen in Naamkaran.

Over the course of her career, she played the mother’s role
opposite some of the biggest stars in the industry like Salman Khan (Maine Pyar
Kiya), Akshay Kumar (Jai Kishan), Sridevi (Gumrah), Madhuri Dixit (Hum Aapke
Hain Koun..!) and Shah Rukh Khan (Kal Ho Naa Ho).

She is a winner of four Filmfare Awards for best supporting
actress.

Reema Lagoo is survived by daughter Mrunmayee, who is also a
theatre and film actor and theatre director.

Her big break came in 1988 when she played the mother of the
leading actress in the romantic hit Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (Until the End of
Time).

Lagoo began to play mothers in Bollywood at a time when the
stereotype of Indian mothers changed from the eternally tragic figure who
suffered for her children.

Lagoo brought a lighter touch. She played the mother who was
also her children's friend.

She played mother to almost every major star and acted in
some of Bollywood's biggest blockbusters.

Superstars Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan had both played her
screen sons.

The Union Government
to modify the “2011 vintage” manufacturing policy to
align it with initiatives like ‘Make in India’ as also Industrial Revolution
4.0, which refers to high end automation.

National manufacturing policy (NMP) “is of 2011 vintage”,
which envisaged that manufacturing should contribute 25 % in India’s GDP by
2022.

Currently, the sector contributes about 16-17 per cent to
India’s economic growth.

The NMP was formulated in 2011 to provides certain tax and
other benefits to boost the sector’s growth besides creating 100 million
additional jobs.

The government has taken a host of initiatives like ‘Make in
India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ and significantly relaxed foreign
investment policy.

The revamped policy is also necessary as the government has
to protect the interest of all segments of industry whether it is highly or
partly automated and SMEs which are yet to adopt modern technologies.

Initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill
India’ are aimed at making India a manufacturing hub and they ought to find a
place in the national manufacturing policy.

Presently, Union Industry Minister is Nirmala Sitharaman.

Pakistan lost face at ICJ on Kulbhushan Jadhav case - 19 May 17

Highlights:

Pakistan faced a major embarrassment at the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kusbhushan Jadhav death sentence case.

The ICJ rejected Pakistan’s claims in the case and stayed
the death sentence to Jadhav, pending the final decision of the world court.

The former Indian Navy official-turned-businessman,
Kulbhushan Jadhav, was awarded death sentence by a Pakistani military court on April
10 this year.

On May 8, India had approached the ICJ for immediate
suspension of death sentence awarded to Jadhav.

He was kidnapped from
Iran and later arrested by Pakistan on March 3, 2016 on alleged charges of
“espionage and subversive activities”.

While the ICJ order came as a huge relief to India and the
family of Jadhav, this is not yet the time for celebrations.

First, Jadhav is still in some undisclosed Pakistani jail
and no one knows about his health conditions. Pakistan has maintained complete
secrecy about Jadhav’s whereabouts and also denied India consular access to him
on 16 occasions.

Second, soon after the ICJ order, Islamabad does not accept
the jurisdiction of ICJ in matters related to the country’s national security.

This immediate official statement from Pakistan comes even
after the ICJ declared that it had jurisdiction in the case.

According to ICJ ,
this is sufficient to establish that it has prima facie jurisdiction under
Article I of the Optional Protocol.

The Court further observes that the existence of a 2008
bilateral Agreement between the Parties on consular relations does not change
its conclusion on jurisdiction.”

As per the international law, the decision of ICJ would be
binding on Pakistan.

In the case of failing to do so, Islamabad may invite
international sanctions.

However, Islamabad may be plotting something more sinister
in the case and it may not mind taking the international rebuke.

For India, it may need something more to bring Jadhav safely
home. One doesn’t know when it would happen.

NITI Aayog holds first ‘Samavesh’ meeting - 19 May 17

Highlights:

The government think-
tank NITI Aayog held the first Samavesh meeting.

The “Samavesh” initiative, a new link on NITI’s website was
launched on the occasion which would eventually emerge as a major repository of
knowledge based reports and case studies across different sectors of the
economy.

It’s aim to bring together 32 premier educational and policy
research institutions to catalyse the country’s development process.

This is the first ever initiative taken in the country to
bring the large number of institutions cutting across diverse domain themes to
deliberate together on the way forward for inclusive development of the country.

The meeting witnessed signing of memoranda of understandings
(MoUs) between NITI Aayog and major think tanks across the country to create an
ecosphere of evidence-based policy research.

The first meeting of the National Steering Group and other
knowledge partners was held under the co-chairmanship of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh
Kant and Principal Adviser NITI Aayog Ratan P Watal.

This network will enable efficient knowledge sharing and
information exchange among all partners to achieve a sustainable and more
inclusive development in line with the National Development Agenda, Sustainable
Development Goals as well as the 15-year vision, 7-year strategy and 3-year
action plan.

The Goods and Services (GST) Council agreed on the fitment of almost all
commodities in the various tax slabs under the new indirect regime to be rolled
out on July 1.

Milk, cereals (unpackaged and unbranded), and jaggery will
be exempt from any GST, while sugar, tea, coffee (except instant), and edible
oil will be taxed at 5%.

Common use items such as soap, toothpaste, and hair oil,
which currently attract a tax rate of 22-24%, will be taxed at 18%.

Coal is currently taxed at 11.7%, will attract a GST rate of
5%.

Consumer durables will come under the 28% tax bracket, down
from the current 30-32% rate. Capital goods and industrial intermediaries will
be taxed at 18%.

According to sources, small petrol and diesel cars will be
taxed at 28% with small petrol cars attracting a cess of 1% and small diesel
cars 3%.

Luxury cars will attract a 15% cess in addition to 28% GST.

350 cc bikes will
attract a cess of 3%.

However, the official said there would be no additional tax
incidence on these goods from their current rate of taxation.

The six categories to be discussed include bidis/cigarettes,
footwear, gold, and agriculture implements.

Despite the reduction in tax of some commodities, efficiency
in administration will help curb evasion and increase tax buoyancy, leading to
improved revenue collection.

Over 1,200 items to be considered under GST, 7% have been
put under the exempt list, 14% items will attract a tax rate of 5%, 17% of the
items will be taxed at 12%, and 43% will be taxed at 18%. “Only 19% items will
be in the 28% tax slab, while 81% of items will be taxed at 18% or lower.

PM Modi to inaugurate African Development Bank (AfDB) - 19 May 17

Highlights:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the annual
meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on May 23 in Gujarat.

It is an event which would provide an opportunity for New
Delhi to deepen India's economic ties with Africa.

It is the first time in the history of the AfDB group that
India would be hosting the annual meetings of the bank.

Nearly 3,000 delegates from 81 countries from across the
world will gather at the sprawling Mahatma Mandir convention centre.

The board of governors of the Bank will meet to dwell upon
the major developmental challenges facing the African countries and the ways to
achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.

AfDB has adopted a strategy called "High 5s".

It focuses on five major developmental priorities comprising
agriculture, energy, industrialisation, regional connectivity, and improved
quality of life through access to social and economic opportunities.

The core theme of the event is "Transforming
Agriculture for wealth creation in Africa".

During India Africa Forum Summit 2015, the announcement of a
$10 billion line of credit by the PM marked a new beginning in India's approach
to engage with African countries in a more constructive manner.

India's support through lines of credit have not only helped
finance the projects in African countries, but have also contributed to
capacity building, IT education, and higher education.

India joined the African Development Fund (ADF) in 1982 and
the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1983.

According to the new Global Burden of Disease study
published in the Lancet,India continues to be one of the poor performers
ranking at 154.

India is now, much below China, Sri Lanka and even
Bangladesh, in terms of quality and accessibility of healthcare.

The study points that despite the country's socio-economic
development, India has failed to achieve in healthcare goals and the gap
between the score and predicted score has widened in the last 25 years.

India's score in the healthcare index increased by 14.1
points, from 30.7 in 1990 to 44.8 in 2015.

Presently, it performed worse than expected in tuberculosis,
diabetes, rheumatic heart diseases and chronic kidney disease.

Highlighting growing inequalities between countries,
researchers pointed out that even among countries of similar development
levels, there is wide variation in healthcare access and quality.

For instance, China is far ahead of India ranking at 82 with
a score of 74 on the index.

Sri Lanka has scored 73 on the index, whereas Brazil and
Bangladesh have score 65 and 52, respectively.

India ranks above Pakistan, which has scored 43.

Indian researchers use a novel route to kill TB bacteria - 20 May 17

Highlights:

Recently, a team of Indian researchers has been able to achieve
100-fold reduction in TB bacterial.

They load in lungs of mice after 60 days of treatment using
bergenin.

Bergenin is a phytochemical isolated from tender leaves of
sakhua or shala tree (Shorea robusta).

Unlike the regularly used antibiotic drugs that target the
TB bacteria, the bergenin compound modulates the immune system to kill the
bacteria found inside the macrophages (a type of white blood cells).

The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular
and Infection Microbiology.

The bergenin compound can be used to clear the bacteria, and
when used in combination with other TB drugs can produce good results.

The researchers undertook several studies to understand the
mode of action of the compound.

The compound was unable to directly kill TB bacteria when
treated with the compound.

However, in the case of in vitro studies, the compound was
able to kill the bacteria found inside infected cells.

In mice infected with TB and treated with the compound,
there was significant reduction in the bacterial load in the lungs.

Unlike in the case of in vitro studies, in mice the compound
was found to activate not only the macrophages but also other cell types (T
cells) that led to effective killing of the bacteria.

A significant reduction in the number of granulomatic
lesions was seen in animals treated with the compound.

Also, the bacterial load was 100-fold lower in mice treated
with the compound compared with controls (animals that were not treated with
bergenin).

These findings strongly suggest that the immune response
enhanced by the compound is able to increase the capacity to clear the TB
bacteria.

The levels of nitric oxide and a cytokine (TNF-alpha) were
found to be enhanced.

The bergenin compound was selectively enhancing the
frequency of interferon-gamma and interleukin-17-producing T cells in the TB
infected animals.

The compound has been shown to heal wounds faster than
conventional drugs.

Dr. Debprasad Chattopadhyay, Director of the ICMR-National
Institute of Traditional Medicine (ICMR-NITM) in Belgaum, Karanataka, and the
other corresponding author of the paper, had isolated the compound.

He had seen tribals using the leaves of shala tree for
wound-healing.

Prof. Das with the help of ICMR-NITM plans to carry out
further tests in larger animals.

If used in combination with other TB drugs the
compound can shorten the duration of treatment and prevent the emergence of
drug-resistance, the authors write.

Moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani sweeps to second term as Iran's President Election - 20 May 17

Highlights:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani won a resounding
re-election victory .

Iranian voters overwhelmingly backed his efforts to reach
out to the world and rebuild the struggling economy.

The 68-year-old Rouhani is a moderate cleric spearheaded a 2015
nuclear deal with world powers.

The 56 year old Raisi had positioned himself as a defender
of the poor and called for a much tougher line with the West.

But his revolutionary rhetoric and efforts to win over
working class voters with promises of increased handouts gained limited
traction.

Rouhani's vote, particularly in rural areas, shows that
Iranian people no longer believe in economic populism and radical change.

Both Russia and the European Union are eager to safeguard
the 2015 deal which they signed alongside the United States, easing sanctions
on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme.

Rouhani has been deeply entrenched in Iran's security
establishment since the early days of the revolution.

He has emerged as the standard-bearer for reformists after
their movement was decimated in the wake of mass protests in 2009.

FDI inflow up 9% in F.Y- 2017 at $43.48 billion - 20 May 17

Highlights:

Inflow of foreign direct investment
(FDI) into India increased by 9 % to record level of USD 43.48 billion in
2016-17 on account of reform measures undertaken by the government.

In 2015-16, India had attracted USD
40 billion foreign investments.

Increased FDI inflows in the country
are largely attributed to intense and bold policy reforms the government
undertook to bring pragmatism in the FDI regime.

The country has now become the
topmost attractive destination for foreign investment.

The total FDI including re-invested
earnings increased to a “new all time high” of USD 60.08 billion last fiscal
from USD 55.6 billion in 2015-16.

During the last three years, the
statement said, the government eased foreign investment norms in as many as 21
sectors covering 87 areas.

The FDI policy easing and
improvement in ease of doing business help promote domestic industry, restricts
import, create jobs and results in conserving valuable foreign exchange.

The intent all this while has been
to make the policy more investor friendly.

The FDI equity inflows in the last
three financial years rose by about 40 per cent to USD 114.41 billion as
against USD 81.84 billion during previous three fiscal (2011-14).

FDI worth USD 11.69 billion
was received through the government approval route.

The overall manufacturing sectors have
witnessed a growth of 4 per cent in comparison to previous three financial
years (from USD 48.03 billion to USD 50.09 billion).

After the launch of Make in India initiative
(October 2014 to March 2017), the FDI flows increased by 62 % to USD 99.72
billion as compared to USD 61.41 billion during the previous 30 months (April
2012 to September 2014).

Foreign investments are crucial for
India, which needs around USD 1 trillion (about Rs 6.4 lakh crore) for
overhauling its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to
boost growth.

It helps improve the country’s
balance of payments situation and strengthen the rupee value against other
global currencies, especially the US dollar.

Union Environment Minister Anil Dave passes away - 20 May 17

Highlights:

Union Environment Minister Anil Dave died following cardiac
arrest here on Thursday morning. He was 61 and a bachelor.

The Union government announced a day of national mourning,
with the national flag flying at half-mast across the country as a mark of
respect to the departed leader.

Dave, a committed environmentalist who worked on green
projects, including conservation of the Narmada.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan was
given additional charge of the Environment Ministry.

Dave was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers on
July 6, 2016, as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment in
place of Prakash Javedakar who was appointed Human Resource Development
Minister.

Dave, who began his political career during his college days
in his home state of Madhya Pradesh, was a Rajya Sabha member since 2009.

Dave joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- the
ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party -- as a child and later
volunteered to be its 'pracharak' (full-timer) after completing his studies.

He was deputed to the BJP before the Madhya Pradesh assembly
elections in 2003.

Dave was a prolific writer and associated with a play on
Chhatrapati Shivaji -- Janata Raja -- which has been staged 1,000 times,
including a performance at Wembley Stadium, London.

He was also a trained pilot, who flew a Cessna 173 plane
over the Narmada from its source to mouth, and also completed a 1,312-km raft
journey across the river.

Prime Minister Releases Book Series written by MS Swaminathan - 20 May 17

Highlights:

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a two-part
book series written by the eminent agricultural scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.

The series is titled – M.S. Swaminathan: The Quest for a
world without hunger. MS Swaminathan Dr. M S Swaminathan is known as the Father
of the Green Revolution in India for his leadership and success in introducing
and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.

He is the founder and Chairman of the MS Swaminathan Research
Foundation, Chennai. The Indian Government has honored him with its prestigious
national decorations like Padma Shri and Padma Bhusan and he has been the
recipient of numerous awards and prizes and medals from all over the world.

He has been named Commandeur of the Order of the Golden Ark
of the Netherlands, and has received the Magsaysay Award for Community
Leadership, the Ordre du Merite Agricole of France, and the Golden Heart
Presidential Award of the Philippines.

He has been awarded the Charles Darwin International Science
and Environment Medal, the Volvo Environment Prize, the UNESCO Gandhi Gold
Medal, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, and the Indira Gandhi
Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development — to name just a few.

In 1987, he
was the first recipient of the World Food Prize, considered equal to a Nobel in
the field of agriculture.

Some of the other books written by Dr. M S Swaminathan are:
An Evergreen Revolution (2006), I Predict: A Century of Hope Towards an Era of
Harmony with Nature and Freedom from Hunger (1999), Gender Dimensions in
Biodiversity Management (1998), Implementing the Benefit Sharing Provisions of
the Convention on Biological Diversity: Challenges and opportunities (1997),
Agrobiodiversity and Farmers’ Rights (1996), Sustainable Agriculture: Towards
Food Security Farmers’ Rights and Plant Genetic Resources: A dialogue (1995),
Wheat Revolution: a Dialogue (1993).

Indian Boy Wins Intel International Science Award in USA - 21 May 17

Highlights:

Prashant Ranganathan has emerged winner in the world’s
largest pre-college science competition in the environment engineering category
for his work on biodegradation of pesticides.

Prashant is among the 20 high schools students from various
parts of the country who participated in the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair held in the US.

More than 1700 students across the world had participated in
the event.

Prashant Ranganathan is a student of Carmel Junior College
in Jamshedpur.

His project titled ‘Biodegradation of Chlorpyrifos using
native bacteria’ is aimed at helping farmers to biodegrade the harmful
pesticides.

In all, Four Indian-Americans received top awards in various
categories.

Indian American Pratik Naidu has won an award in the
category of computational biology and bioinformatics.

Other Indian-American winners include Adam Nayak who has won
in earth and environmental sciences, Karthik Yegnesh in Mathematics and Rahul
Subramaniam in the microbiology category.

Air Marshal PN Pradhan Appointed as Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff - 21 May 17

Highlights:

Air Marshal PN Pradhan has been appointed as the Deputy
Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations). IDS Integrated Defence Staff
was created in 2001 following the recommendation of GoM which was set up after
the Kargil war to review India’s defence management.

IDS was established to
ensure a high degree of synergy between the Armed forces. IDS works towards
integration of policies, war fighting and procurement by employing best
management practices.

The IDS comprises of Service Officers, Civilian Officers
and Scientists who perform roles and functions allocated to them based on
responsibilities of Integrated Defence Staff.

PN Pradhan PN Pradhan was
commissioned as a pilot in Indian Air Force in 1981.

Pradhan has held four
command tenures and various key positions like Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Transport
and Helicopters) and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personal Airmen &
Civilians) at Air Headquarters and served as the Senior Air Staff Officer of
Southern Air Command.

Pradhan was associated with the induction and
operationalisation of Embraer-135, BBJ and C-130 fleets into the Indian
Airforce.

In recognition of his distinguished service, he was awarded with Ati
Vishisht Seva Medal in 2014.

The South Asian Junior Table Tennis championship was held in
Mount Lavinia, near Colombia in Sri Lanka.

In a stunning performance, the
paddlers from India have won all the 10 Gold Medals on offer in this
tournament.

Apart from 10 gold medals, the Indian participants have also
won 14 medals, thus taking the medal tally to 14.

In this championship, top
seeded Manav Thakkar won Junior Boys final; while Archana Girish Kamath won
Junior Girls final.

In Cadet Boys final, top-seed H. Jeho won the Gold Medal.

India led the championship with eight points, followed by
Sri Lanka (six points).

Tejas Express, 'Aeroplane On Tracks', Makes First Trip from Mumbai to Goa - 22 May 17

Highlights:

The Tejas Express, India's newest train, made its first trip
from Mumbai to Goa.

The luxury train took 400 passengers on the
eight-and-a-half-hour journey - less time than the Janshatabdi.

The train was revealed to the public in Mumbai.

The bright yellow superfast train promises a flight-like
experience on the track at less than Rs. 1,500 a ride.

Its first commercial journey was flagged off by Railways
Minister Suresh Prabhu this afternoon.

Features of the Tejas Express:

The Tejas Express has German coaches fitted with LED
screens, coffee vending machines and Wifi connectivity.

The train will have thirteen coaches including one executive
coach with a capacity of 56. All doors are centrally controlled.

The train also has CCTV cameras, besides fire and smoke
detection facilities. Its body is "graffiti proof".

The fare for Tejas Express' executive class is Rs. 2,680
with food and Rs. 2,525 without. For the AC chair car, the fare is Rs. 1,280
with food and Rs. 1,155 without food.

The ticket fares will be cheaper than flights but 20 per
cent higher than that of the Shatabdi Express.

The trains can run at a speed of 200 km per hour.

Tejas will take rail travel to a different level altogether.

This is a first of its kind on Indian Railway.

Each coach has cost Rs. 3.25 crore.

These have leather seats, LCD screens and a call button to
summon attendants.

The train will run between Mumbai and Goa five days a week.
During monsoon, it will run for three days.

Tejas Express trains will also be launched between Delhi and
Chandigarh and between Surat and Mumbai.

World Biological Diversity Day being observed on 22 May - 22 May 17

Highlights:

Every year, May 22 is observed as International Day for Biodiversity
or World Biodiversity Day.

This date commemorates the date of Adoption of the Agreed
Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity at UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi on
22 May 1992.

In 2000, UN General Assembly via resolution 55/201 decided
to celebrate World Biodiversity Day on May 22 instead of December 29, which was
previously designated as International Biodiversity Day.

Theme The theme for 2017 for World Biodiversity Day is
“Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism”.

The theme is in sync with the observance of 2017 as
“International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development” as proclaimed by
the United Nations General Assembly.

UN has already declared 2011-20 as United Nations Decade on
Biodiversity to support and promote reducing the loss of biodiversity.

About Global Biodiversity The term Biological Diversity was
first coined by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond F. Dasmann in
1968.

This term became widespread in use during 1980s.
Biodiversity refers to the “totality of genes, species and ecosystems of a
region”.

There are three levels of biodiversity viz. species
diversity, ecosystem diversity and genetic diversity.

The term biodiveristy is used to address several problems in
conservation of environment including loss of species, destruction of habitats,
invasive species, genetic pollution, over exploitation and effects of climate
change on biodiversity.

The spatial distribution of organisms, species and
ecosystems is called Biogeography.
Biodiversity is unequally distributed on Earth and it varies across
regions on the basis of climatic and geographical factors.

On earth, highest biodiversity is found in tropics. In
comparison to Oceans, terrestrial biodiversity is much greater.

It is estimated that there are 8.7 million species on earth
of which 2.1 million live in Oceans while rest are terrestrial.

The terrestrial biodiversity is greater at equator in
comparison to poles. Around 90% of world’s biodiversity is found n tropical
rainforests which occupy less than 10 percent of Earth’s surface.

The marine biodiversity is highest along the coasts in the
Western Pacific which is known for highest sea temperature.

Around 70% of World species are found in 12 countries
viz. Australia, Brazil, China, Columbia,
Costa Rica, Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico and Peru.

It was a world record for Anshu -two double ascents by a
woman and fastest double ascent of Mt Everest by a woman.

Anshu had created her first mountaineering record by
climbing Mount Everest on May 12 in 2011 and again on May 21 the same year,
becoming the first mother in the world to summit the world's highest peak twice
within 10 days.

In 2013, Anshu had again scaled the peak. Anshu had made a
fourth attempt to scale the peak in 2015, but had to call off her expedition
midway due to the earthquake that struck Nepal.

NASA scientists discovered new bacteria named after late President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - 22 May 17

Highlights:

Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the
foremost lab of NASA for work on interplanetary travel, discovered the new
bacteria on the filters of the International Space Station (ISS).

They named it Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who was a renowned aerospace scientist.

Solibacillus kalamii -- the bacteria named after Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam -- is found only in the International Space Station and, hence, a
befitting tribute to the great scientist.

Solibacillus kalamii has been found only on the
International Space Station and not on Earth.

The scientists at NASA have named a new organism discovered
by them after the much-loved A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Dr. Kalam had his early training at NASA in 1963 before he
set up India’s first rocket-launching facility in the fishing village of Thumba
in Kerala.

The name of the bacterium is Solibacillus kalamii, the
species name is after Dr. Abdul Kalam and genus name is Solibacillus which is a
spore-forming bacteria.

The filter on which the new bug was found remained on board
the ISS for 40 months.

It is called a
high-efficiency particulate arrestance filter or HEPA filter.

This part is the routine housekeeping and cleaning system on
board the international space station.

Dr. Venkateswaran publish his discovery in the International
Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

According to Dr. Venkateswaran, even as it orbits the earth
some 400 kilometres above, the ISS is home to many types of bacteria and fungi
which co-inhabit the station with the astronauts who live and work on the
station.

One of his big jobs was to ensure that NASA’s Mars Curiosity
rover - the massive car-sized almost 1000 kg buggy - was totally sterile when
it left earth.

By international law, this extreme hygiene is required or
else other planets could get contaminated by bugs hidden on human satellites.

The ISS is the size of a football field and its construction
started with a launch in 1998 and as of now it is the largest human-made object
orbiting the earth.

It has weight about 419 tonnes and can house a maximum of
six astronauts and has costs roughly USD 150 billion.

On the space station all the air and water is recycled,
being a completely closed environment there is a rapid build-up of moulds and
bacteria on the station.

These not only have to be cleaned but monitored to ensure
that they do not corrode the walls of the space station and do not turn
hazardous to the astronauts.

Nearly 2.4 million people in India were internally displaced
due to conflict, violence and disasters in 2016, the third highest number
globally.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the
Norwegian Refugee Council released a new report which ranked India third among
countries most affected by displacement related to disasters followed by China
and the Philippines.

Conflict, violence and disasters caused 31.1 million new
internal displacements in 2016.

In 2016, one person every second was forced to flee their
home inside their own country.

Internally displaced people now outnumber refugees by two to
one. It is urgent to put internal displacement back on the global agenda.

The highest displacements were recorded in China with 7.4
million people getting impacted, followed by the Philippines (5.9 million),
India (2.4 million) and Indonesia (1.2 million).

The figures for India include 796,000 people displaced as a
result of conflict and violence.

The report added that 3.6 million new displacements in South
Asia in 2016 represented a drop of more than half from the 2015 figure of 7.9
million.

Sixty-seven per cent, or 2.4 million, were in India, most of
them associated with monsoon season floods in Bihar that led to more than 1.6
million displacements between mid-July and October.

China, the Philippines and India have the highest absolute
numbers, small island states suffer disproportionally once population size is
taken into account.

Further, as in the US, the size and density of populations
exposed to hazards in India, China and Bangladesh results in high displacement
risk, but it is pushed higher still by the numbers of people living in
substandard buildings and with less resources to cope, which makes them more
vulnerable.

Of the 6.9 million new internal displacements caused by
conflict in 2016, 2.6 million took place in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to
the Global Report on Internal Displacement.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo was the country worst
affected, with a spike of 922,000 new displacements during the year alone.

Certain countries drop off the international agenda only to
re-emerge a few years later with significant numbers of new displacements.

This was the case for the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
which highlights how the failure to address the underlying causes of conflict
and crisis results in cyclical patterns of displacement.

Disasters displaced three times more people than conflicts.
Most of the 24 million new disaster displacements recorded in 2016 were linked to
sudden-onset weather hazards such as floods, storms, wildfires and severe
winter conditions.

Disaster displacement occurs mostly in low and lower-middle
income countries, and is expected to increase in the future with the impacts of
climate change and more extreme weather.

Despite internal displacement being the starting point of
many onward journeys, it has been overshadowed by the current global focus on
refugees and migrants.

The Global Report on Internal Displacement shows that displacement
will continue unless there is direct funding and political attention to the
underlying drivers of poverty, state fragility and global environmental change.

World Turtle Day being celebrated on May 23 - 23 May 17

Highlights:

Like every year, May 23 is celebrated as the World Turtle
Day as an annual observance this year.

It aimed at protecting turtles and tortoises and their
rapidly disappearing habitats across the world.

The celebrations was started in 2000 by the American
Tortoise Rescue (ATR).

Since then it is celebrated every year to create awareness
about the world’s oldest living reptiles in the world.

Threats in India Smuggling
The greatest threats faced by the turtles and tortoises in India is
smuggling.

They are smuggled every year in large numbers to East Asian
and Southeast Asian markets.

They are smuggled live to these countries.

Apart from the live specimens, the eggs of sea turtle are
dug up and sold as delicacies in the South Asian countries.

The state of West Bengal has emerged as one of the focal
points of turtle smuggling.

Despite efforts of the government, turtle smuggling remains
as a lucrative business in India.

Other Threats Turtles
also threatened by several man made issues.

One of the major threat is habitat destruction.

The turtles which are found in Ganges and other major rivers
in the country faces habitat destruction as these rivers are increasingly
getting polluted.

Sea turtles also suffers from the pollution of seas and
beaches. Many turtles are dying every year by eating plastics.

IIT Kharagpur’s Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science
of Happiness and Madhya Pradesh government’s ‘Rajya Anandam Sansthan’
(Department of Happiness) has signed an MoU to collaborate on the development
of a Happiness Index for measuring the well-being of the residents of the state.

The MoU was signed in the presence of MP Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan and IIT-KGP Director Prof P P Chakrabarti at Bhopal.

The Happiness index would be developed by IIT-KGP and the
data collected by the state government would be analysed to assess the
happiness levels of people of the state and to suggest recommendations to
enhance happiness levels in the state.

IIT-Kharagpur will also develop an online screening and
assessment system to suitably identify the volunteers from more than 30,000
people who have expressed their desire to be part of the collaborative effort.

In addition, IIT-KGP will also develop online courses on
happiness with the help of evaluation system available at its Center for
Educational Technology.

Presently, India has been ranked at 122 out of 155 countries
in the 2017 United Nations’s World Happiness Index (WHI).

Among the 8 SAARC nations, Pakistan is at 80th position,
Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110 and Sri Lanka is at 120.

The list is topped by Norway, followed by Denmark, Iceland,
Switzerland and Finland.

The rankings are based factors such as inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita,
public trust and social support.

A Swachh Bharat app was launched at the National Museum - 23 May 17

Highlights:

A Swachh Bharat app
was launched at the National Museum.

The app would soon be rolled out for 116 ASI monuments
across the country with the help of which visitors would be able to report
garbage on the premises.

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma launched the app at the
National Museum.

As many as 30 galleries have already been equipped with a
device that uses the intranet to connect to the app.

In the next couple of months, 116 monuments

Under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) would be
installed with this device which can be connected to the app using blutooth.

The visitors at the monuments can through the app report to
the ministry any litter or garbage on the premises.

The app can be downloaded on an ordinary phone and as you
enter the premises and switch on the Bluetooth.

It will continuously relay Swachh Bharat-related information
to you and also ask you to report any garbage around you.

Every such device has a range of about 30 metres.

This has been done to ensure that the person uploading and
sending photos is inside the premises of

The app is available for Android mobile phones and can be
downloaded from the Google Play store.

Former Moto GP champion Nicky Hayden has died five days
after the American was hit by a car while cycling in eastern Italy.

The American was struck by a car while training on his
bicycle along Italy's Adriatic Coast.

The 35-year-old had been in intensive care with severe brain
damage since he was struck by a car while training on his bicycle along Italy's
Adriatic Coast.

The force of the impact shattered the car windscreen.

Moto GP promoters Dorna joined in tributes from across the
world of motorsport for the 'Kentucky Kid' who won the 2006 world title for
Honda.

Hayden last raced in
the MotoGP championship in Spain in September 2016.

He started 216 races between 2003 and 2015, winning three.

Godman Chandraswami passes away - 23 May 17

Highlights:

Self-styled godman, Chandraswami passes
away at the age of 66 after a prolonged illness.

He turned political broker and astrologer to the
powerful, rich and influential, dominated news headlines for almost three
decades.

In the mid-1990s, mired in a series of cases involving
financial irregularities, violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, and
allegations of being involved in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

His name is most closely associated with former Prime
Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Chandrashekhar, but his circle of patrons
included many others.

Brief History:

He was born in a middle class family in 1948.

His original name was Nemi Chand.

His father was a
money lender, was from Rajasthan’s Behror in Rajasthan.

Starting out as a tantric and astrologer, he gradually came
into contact with powerful Indian politicians.

He had “acquired spiritual powers in the 1970s, meditating
in Himachal Pradesh.

Soon after, he came in touch with his first political
disciple, the late Congress leader Lalit Narain Mishra, followed by Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi who was “impressed” by him, the BJP’s Atal Bihari
Vajpayee (long before he became PM), Nanaji Deshmukh and Mr. Rao.

He subsequently became a friend of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi and ex-Congress MP Satish Sharma: the latter.

He was a power broker and middleman who cultivated those
holding high office and made money in the process.

Rajiv Gandhi used Chandraswami to involve V.P. Singh in the
St Kitts affair (that eventually was found to be without basis).

India become first Nation to have national plan for Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) - 24 May 17

Highlights:

India become the first country to have come up with a
national plan and a local strategy for disaster risk reduction (DRR).

It become UN's greatest match-winner at the 2017 Global
Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

It has also made significant progress in its commitment to
bring down disaster losses and on the climate change.

The global platform, organised by the UN's Office for
Disater Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

It is being attended by representatives of 176 countries,
including more than 50 ministers and at least seven heads of state.

The Indian delegation is led by Minister of State for Home
Kiren Rijiju and comprises a high-level team from the Prime Minister's Office
and the home ministry, including PM's additional principal secretary P K
Mishra.

India is leading a global intervention on bringing down
disaster losses which is pushing more than 26 million people into abject
poverty every year hit by natural calamities.

The UN's DRR meet at Cancun is viewed as the second most
important event after the Paris climate change conference of 2015.

At the global platform, countries will show their progress
made on the Sendai declaration which binds all signatory UN nations to bring
down disaster related deaths and implement the roadmap agreed upon by 2030.

India is the only country which has drawn a comprehensive
national plan on its roadmap to fully achieve the Sendai framework by 2030, and
a short term goal by 2020.

India's PV Sindhu elected as member of BWF Athletes' commission - 24 May 17

Highlights:

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu became one of the members
of the BWF Athletes' Commission after the end of voting for the four places on
the representative body.

The 21-year-old Indian topped the ballot with 129 votes as
she led a trio of women onto the BWF Athletes' Commission.

PV Sindhu is 2017 TOISA Player of the Year.

Apart from Sindhu, Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland was placed
third overall with 103 votes and Lithuania's Akvile Stapusaityte (25 votes) was
the third woman elected to the Commission.

Sindhu, Gilmour along with Germany's Marc Zwiebler, who
received 108 votes, will serve four-year terms.

These three will replace Yuhan Tan (Belgium), Hans-Kristian
Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) and Greysia Polii (Indonesia) who have concluded
their four-year terms.

Stapusaityte will only serve two years as she will finish
the term of Tang Yuanting.

The Chinese player became a member of the Athletes'
Commission in 2015 but resigned following her retirement from badminton last
year, thus leaving a casual vacancy on the Commission.

A total of 183 valid votes were cast. There were two invalid
votes.

The new Athletes' Commission members will join Shintaro
Ikeda of Japan; Koen Ridder of the Netherlands; and India's Saina Nehwal on the
players' representative body.

Paytm became the third entity in India to launch a payments bank - 24 May 17

Highlights:

Digital payments firm Paytm on 23 May 2017 became the third
entity in the country to launch a payments bank after Airtel and India Post.

It launched its payments bank with offers like 4 percent
interest rate and cashbacks on deposits, zero fees on online transactions and
no minimum balance requirement.

Paytm is backed by Chinese firm Alibaba and Japanese
conglomerate SoftBank and is targeting 500 million customers by 2020.

It has earmarked initial investment of Rs. 400 crores to
build its banking network over two years.

The company at present has around 220 million customers who
use its digital wallet.

The wallets will be shifted to the payments banks and users
will have to comply with ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) norms for opening accounts.

It is setting up KYC centres across India to assist its
customers in opening accounts.

English city Manchester was hit by a suspected terror attack on a music concert - 24 May 17

Highlights:

On 22 May 2017, an explosion occurred just outside the
Manchester Arena in Manchester (UK), at the end of a concert by the American
pop singer Ariana Grande.

As many as 22 persons died in this explosion while around 60
persons were injured.

According to the preliminary investigations by the police,
the lone male attacker, who died in the blast, was carrying an improvised
explosive device which he detonated.

The bombing appeared intended to inflict the maximum
possible damage on young concertgoers.

If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it would be the worst
strike on British soil since 2005, when Islamist extremists bombed the London
subway and a bus, killing 54 people.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected as the new Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) - 24 May 17

Highlights:

Former Ethiopian health minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus was chosen as WHO’s first-ever Director-General from Africa in a
closely fought election on 23 May 2017.

He will replace Margaret Chan (Hong Kong) who will retire
from the post on 30 June 2017 after serving two terms. Chan’s first term began
on 9 November 2006.

He became the first-ever WHO Director-General from Africa.

Dr. Tedros defeated the British candidate, Dr. David
Nabarro, after three tense rounds of voting. Third was Pakistan’s Dr. Sania
Nishtar.

The stakes for the post of WHO Director-General were
particularly high in the wake of the scandal that engulfed the WHO during the
Ebola epidemic in west Africa.

The World Health Organization is a specialised agency of the
United Nations that is concerned with international public health.

It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland. Wikipedia

It’s headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

It was founded on 7 April 1948.

As of 2015, the WHO has 194 member states: all of them
Member States of the United Nations except for the Cook Islands and Niue.

India’s first underwater rail tunnel work was completed ahead of its schedule during May 2017 - 25 May 17

Highlights:

India’s first underwater rail tunnel is being established
under the Hooghly River (West Bengal) for establishing metro link between
Howrah and Kolkata.

This portion of East-West Metro is being implemented by
Afcons Transtonnelstroy and Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd.

The construction work for this tunnel was completed during
May 2017 while the original completion schedule was July 2017.

The tunnel runs through 502 metres under the Hooghly River
and for this a giant tunnel-boring machine (TBM) named ‘Rachna’ was employed.

The entire project is 16.6 km long, out of which 10.8 km
runs under the ground. Of this 10.8 km, 502 metres is under the water.

United Arab Emirates’ city Dubai took yet another step
toward being the most futuristic city in the world as it unveiled world’s
first-ever robot police officer on 24 May 2017.

Dubai Police gave this robot the task of patrolling the
city’s malls and tourist attractions.

People will be able to use it to report crimes, pay fines
and get information by tapping a touchscreen on its chest.

Data collected by the robot will also be shared with the
transport and traffic authorities.

The aim was for 25% of the force to be robotic by 2030 but
they would not replace humans.

Manchester United won the 2017 Europa League title on 24 May 2017 - 25 May 17

Highlights:

Manchester United won the 2017 Europa League with a
comfortable 2-0 win over Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam in the final played at
Manchester on 24 May 2017.

Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored
a goal in each half. With this win the team also qualified for the group stages
of the Champions League.

The Europa League final was played in the light of the
Manchester bombings of 22 May in which at least 22 persons died.

A minute’s
silence was observed for the victims of this attack.

Socialist Lenin Moreno sworn in as Ecuador president - 25 May 17

Highlights:

Lenin Moreno was sworn in as president of Ecuador following
a tight race.

The disabled former vice president won on promises of
maintaining the social programs of his leftist predecessor Rafael Correa.

The 64-year-old Moreno is a socialist.

Last month he won a runoff vote in the oil-exporting
country, bucking a shift to the right in South America as leftist governments
struggle to maintain support.

Guillermo Lasso is a
former banker, called for a recount after losing the runoff election.

The electoral council upheld Moreno's 2.3 % margin of
victory.

Moreno is one of the
world's few paraplegic heads of state.

He will continue anti-poverty programs.

But he has promised a more conciliatory style and more open
dialogue with adversaries in contrast to Correa's often combative manner.

During his four-year term, Moreno faces a challenging
panorama of a faltering dollarized economy with a heavy debt burden and low oil
prices.

India targets $1 trillion digital Economy by 2022 - 25 May 17

Highlights:

According to Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar , the
Centre aims to grow India’s digital economy to $1 trillion by 2022.

The Centre had roped in consulting firm McKinsey to help
draw a roadmap to achieve this target.

Currently the digital economy, includes sectors such as
fintech, communications, e-commerce, cyber security and electronics.

India is aiming to increase the turnover of its digital and
the Information Technology (IT) industry to $1 trillion by 2022 from a current
value of $270 billion as the country looks to focus on start-ups, financial
technology and new age technologies.

Country's digital and IT industry, in its current form, is
primarily driven by the IT and IT-enabled services and is estimated to stand at
$150 billion, followed by financial services at $50 billion and electronics
manufacturing at $40 billion.

Union Government appoints five members to National Commission for Minorities (NCM) - 25 May 17

Highlights:

The Centre has appointed five members to the panel in the
National Commission for Minorities (NCM).

The NCM, which has the responsibility of protecting
interests of the minority communities, was left with no member in March this
year.

All its seven members, appointed by previous Congress-led
UPA-II government, had retired between September 9, 2015 and March 9 this year.

Renown social activist from Uttar Pradesh Gayarul Hasan will
be the chairperson of the Commission.

BJP leader from Kerala George Kurian, former Maharashtra
minister Sulekha Kumbhare, Jain representative from Gujarat Sunil Singhi and
Vada Dasturji Khurshed, chief priest of Udvada Athornan Anjuman, are the other
members of the panel.

This is for the first time that a Jain member will be part
of the panel after the community was notified as ‘minority’ in January 2014.

The tenure of the panel members is of three years (if not
extended).

It’s tradition was
that the Commission had a retired judge or bureaucrat as its chairperson or
member.

Former NCM member Captain Praveen Davar, who demitted office
in January this year, welcomed the development, but rued that the government
could have filled vacancies “much earlier” after the Commission members started
retiring in phases from September 2015.

What is NCM ?

The NCM was set up under the National Commission for
Minorities Act, 1992 to look into complaints from members of five religious
communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis).

The panel has seven members, including its chairperson and
vice chairperson.

Besides NCM, 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West
Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam, which are home to sizeable minority populace,
have set up commissions at their respective levels.

Aggrieved persons belonging to these communities may
approach the state minorities commissions concerned for redressal of their
grievances or send their representations to the NCM after exhausting all
avenues of remedies available.

The functions of the state commissions, inter-alia, are to
safeguard and protect the interests of minorities provided in the Constitution
and laws enacted by Parliament and state legislatures.

India is the third largest pharma supplier to Africa - 26 May 17

Highlights:

According to the
52nd AfDB(African Development Bank) Annual Meet, India is the third largest pharma supplier to Africa.

The 52nd AfDB(African Development Bank) Annual Meetings 2017
being held at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

India to help Africa achieve its Sustainable Development
Goals by sharing its experiences.

India's involvement in Africa's health sector has been
steadily growing and cited the fact that India is the third largest pharma
supplier to Africa.

Africa today faces major problems in the health sector,
including shortages of doctors, nurses and lack of developed health
infrastructure.

But while Africa has improved its overall average
expenditure on health from 4.82% of its GDP in 1995 to 6.03% in 2013.

Indian government has been improving private sector and
government sector cooperation in the health sector.

Africa and India could cooperate together in the emerging
field of E-governance.

During the session, panel discussions were held on the
benefits of sharing e-governance technologies, between India and African
countries.

This session a discussion was held on one of the best
symbols of emerging South-South cooperation i.e. the upcoming Pan-African
E-network project.

This project is an ICT (Information Communication
Technology) project between India and the African Union that seeks to connect
all members of the Unions through a satellite and fibre-optic network.

Panelists also discussed the need for more investment to
develop Africa's rural internet infrastructure.

Indian companies have also offered to develop Africa's
e-governance infrastructure.

India retains world's highest FDI recipient crown - 26 May 17

Highlights:

India retained the position
as the world's top most greenfield FDI investment destination for the second
consecutive year.

It has been attracting USD 62.3 billion in 2016.

According to the fDi Report 2017 compiled by fDi
Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Ltd., India has remained ahead
of China and the US as far as FDI inflows were concerned in the last year.

FDI by capital investment, increase of 2 % to USD 62.3
billion in 809 projects during 2016 in India.

The global investment landscape, the report said, has
changed considerably in 2016 as FDI gravitated to locations experiencing the
strongest economic growth, while locations in recession or facing high levels
of uncertainty saw major declines.

In 2016, greenfield FDI continued to rise worldwide, with
capital investment increasing by more than 6 % to USD 776.2 billion, its
highest since 2011, alongside an increase in job creation by 5 % to 2.02
million.

However, the number of FDI projects declined 3 % to 12,644.

China has overtaken the US to become the second biggest
country for FDI by capital investment, recording USD 59 billion of announced
FDI, compared with USD 48 billion-worth in the US.

Globally, the real estate sector has claimed the top spot
for capital investment, with USD 157.5 billion of announced FDI recorded in 2016,
following an increase of 58 %.

In value terms, coal and natural gas witnessed an inflow of
USD 121 billion, followed by alternate and renewable energy at USD 77 billion.

Nearly every third Indian suffers from a thyroid disorder - 26 May 17

Highlights:

Nearly every third Indian suffers from one or the other kind
of thyroid disorder.

It is most often causes weight gain and hormonal imbalances,
and is more commonly seen in women, according to a survey.

North India recorded the maximum cases of hypothyroidism, a
condition in which thyroid gland cannot make enough hormone to keep the body
running.

The south and the west zones reported cases of
hyperthyroidism and its variants.

The analysis is based on in-house data collected from over
33 lakh adults pan India from 2014-2016 and revealed that about 32 % of the
Indian population is suffering from various kinds of thyroid disorders.

Sub clinical hypothyroidism, a milder form of hypothyroidism
where the diagnosis is made unexpectedly, emerged as the most prevalent form of
thyroid disorder across the country with maximum cases being present in the
eastern part of the country.

North India reported maximum cases of hypothyroidism while
the south and west zones reported cases of hyperthyroidism and its variants, as
per the survey carried out by SRL Diagnostics.

Thyroid diseases are more commonly seen in women and cause a
multitude of problems, most notably, weight gain and hormonal imbalances.

However, even men are at risk, though their chances of
suffering from thyroid diseases are considered to be less as compared with
women.

Symptoms of under-active thyroid are similar in men as they
are in women, with weakness, fatigue, weight gain, depression and high
cholesterol dominating day to day life.

With early diagnosis and treatment, thyroid hormone
replacement is a safe and effective treatment that can manage one's symptoms
and prevent complications.

As this report showed sub-clinical hypothyroidism, in which
thyroid functions just below normal level, is a silent disease which is being
increasingly diagnosed in the Indian population.

Iran has built 3rd underground ballistic missile factory - 26 May 17

Highlights:

Iran has built a third underground ballistic missile
production factory.

It will keep developing its missile programme.

The development is likely to fuel tensions with the United
States in a week when President Donald Trump has called Iran a sponsor of
militant groups and a threat to countries across the Middle East. on his first
foreign trip.

Trump has imposed new sanctions on Iran in response to its
recent missile launches.

Iran's Sunni Muslim Gulf neighbours and its arch-enemy
Israel have expressed concerns over Tehran's ballistic missile programme,
seeing it as a threat to regional security.

Most nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were lifted last year
after Tehran fulfilled commitments under a 2015 deal with major powers to scale
back its nuclear programme - an agreement that Trump has frequently criticised
as being too soft on Tehran.

But Iran remains subject to a UN arms embargo and other
restrictions.

Two months after implementation of the deal, the Guards
test-fired two ballistic missiles that it said were designed to be able to hit
Israel.

The next missile to be produced is a surface-to-surface
missile.

In retaliation for the new US sanctions over its ballistic
missile programme, Iran this month added nine American individuals and
companies to its own list of 15 US companies for alleged human rights
violations and cooperation with Israel.

According to EEPC India, engineering exports to Israel have
gone up by a whopping 640 %, or more than six times in April, 2017 over the
same month last year.

As against engineering exports of just about USD 20 million
in April, 2016, the shipments of these goods have gone up immensely to USD
146.42 million in April this fiscal.

Moreover, Israel ranks at 12th position among India's engineering
export destination and has figured prominently among the top 25 destinations.

Mr Narendra Modi would be the first Indian Prime Minister to
visit Israel is a great positive for the Indian industry and exporting
community.

Indian engineering industry can enhance its level of
engagement with Israel in a number of high-tech areas like defence production,
steel, automobile and auto components, aircraft components and ship-building
and ship boats.

In fact, bulk of the engineering exports to Israel for the
month of April are listed against the broad group of ' Ships, boats, floating
structures and parts', USD 122 million.

Odisha-based activist Akhand entered the Limca Book of
Records for the highest number of replies received from a single organisation
on a Right to Information (RTI) application.

In less than three months from February to April in 2016, he
had received 333 replies from the Department of Posts.

According to Limca Book of Records, he had received 162
replies in February, 157 in March and 14 in April, making it the highest number
of such replies received from a single organisation on an RTI petition.

Mr. Akhand had filed a petition under the RTI Act, 2005 with
the Department of Posts on January 22, 2016 asking whether Internal Complaint
Committees (ICC) had been formed at various divisions of the department as per
the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013.

According to him, similar applications were filed with the
Home Ministry, Defence Ministry, Ministry of Railways, External Affairs
Ministry and the Department of Women and Child.

Applications were also filed with State government
departments such as Higher Education, Mass Education, Home, and Health and
Family Welfare.

He got maximum replies from the Department of Posts.

Almost all public information officers had provided
information, who has been working on human rights using RTI as a tool for his
works.

Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill passes away - 27 May 17

Highlights:

Former Director General of Police of Punjab KPS Gill passed
away at the age of 82.

It's full form is ‘Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and
Development of Agro-Processing Clusters’. SAMPADA’s aim is to supplement agriculture, modernize
processing and decrease agri-waste. SAMPADA scheme is approved for the period
2016- 2020.

SAMPADA, with an allocation of Rs 6000 crore, is expected to
leverage investment of Rs 31400 crore and will handle 334 lakh MT agro-produce
valuing of Rs 104125 crore.

This scheme will benefit 20 lakh farmers and will generate
530500 direct and indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20.

This scheme will boost the development of modern
infrastructure to encourage entrepreneurs to set up food processing units based
on cluster approach. It will give effective and seamless backward and forward
integration for processed food industry.

SAMPADA scheme will result in modern infrastructure creation
with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

It will help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce,
increasing the processing level, availability of safe and convenient processed
foods at affordable price to consumers.

It will increase the export of the processed foods.

India provides a$500 aid to Mauritius - 27 May 17

Highlights:

India has announced a
$500 million line of credit to Mauritius as the two countries decided to firm
up cooperation in the field of maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.

The bilateral maritime accord will strengthen mutual
cooperation and capacities.

A total of four agreements were signed after the talks
between the two leaders.

The two sides signed a maritime security agreement after
extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian
counterpart Pravind Jugnauth.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Jugnauth agreed that effective management
of conventional and non-conventional threats in the Indian Ocean is essential
to pursue economic opportunities and provide security to the people of both the
countries.

Both countries have to keep up vigil against piracy that
impacts trade and tourism, trafficking of drugs and humans, illegal fishing,
and other forms of illegal exploitation of marine resources.

The bilateral maritime accord will strengthen cooperation
and capacities.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen their wide-ranging
cooperation in hydrography for a secure and peaceful maritime domain.

the two countries need to ensure that the sea lanes of
communications are safe and secure and regular patrolling is conducted to
combat illegal activities such as piracy, illegal fishing in the territorial
waters and drug trafficking.

A decision to extend the operational life of Coast Guard
ship Guardian, that was given by India to Mauritius under a grant assistance
programme, was also taken.

During his visit to Mauritius in March 2015, Mr. Modi had
commissioned offshore patrol vessel (OPV) Barracuda, built and financed by
India, into the Mauritian Coast Guard.

Besides the maritime pact, three other agreements were also
signed after talks between the two leaders.

They were for setting up of a civil services college in
Mauritius, one on cooperation in ocean research and the US dollar Credit Line
Agreement between the SBM Mauritius Infrastructure Development Company and
Export-Import Bank of India.

India Government bans Sale of Cattle for Slaughter - 27 May 17

Highlights:

The Ministry of Environment and Forests have come up with
new regulations that bans the sale of cattle for slaughter.

The central regulation for cow protection has been notified
at the backdrop of rising cases of violence against cow traders by Hindu
vigilante groups.

The rules have been notified under Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act of 1960.

Slaughter of cows are banned in most parts of the country
except parts of the north-east India and Kerala.

The new rules will be implemented in the next three months.

Across India, the cattle trade is permitted only among farm
land owners.

Cattle can be only sold to a person possessing documents
that he is an agriculturist.

As per the new regulations, cattle bought cannot be resold
within six months.

Young and unfit animals cannot be traded.

Animal markets cannot be set up within 50 km of an
international border and 25 km of a state border.

Transporting cattle outside of the country will require
special approval of the state government nominee.

All animal markets has to run with the approval of district
animal market committee to be headed by a magistrate.

The committee will also have two representatives from
government-approved animal welfare groups.

The new regulations prescribes around 30 norms for animal
welfare in markets like that of water, fans, bedding, ramps, non-slippery
flooring, veterinary facility and separate enclosure for sick animals etc.

The owner of the animal has to bear the cost of its upkeep
in a shelter.

In case, the owner is unable to pay, the cost would be
recovered as land arrears.

The state government will specify the costs every year on
April 1.

The new regulations says that cattle bought cannot be resold
for six months.

This provision will hurt the business of cattle traders.

The new rules have introduced a lot of paperwork for cattle
traders who are predominantly illiterate and poor.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone
for All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Changsari in the Kamrup
District of Assam.

The institute will be constructed at a distance of 26 km
from Guwahati.

The institute will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,123
crores as part of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’.

The construction of the institute will be completed within
the next four years.

The institute will have a hospital comprising of 750 beds,
22 super speciality departments including 16 operation theatres.

It will also have a medical college capable of accommodating
100 MBBS students every year and a nursing college accommodating 60 students
each year.

It will be spread across 189 acres.

The AIIMS in Delhi attracts patients from all corners of the
country resulting in overcrowding. Keeping in view of this, the government is
taking steps to ensure the setting up of AIIMS in different parts of the
country to cater to the needs of the people.

The seven functioning AIIMS are located in New Delhi,
Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh.

Last year, the Union Cabinet had approved the establishment
of a new AIIMS at Bhatinda, Punjab under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha
Yojana (PMSSY).

Besides, 3 new AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) and
Kalyani (West Bengal) were also have been
sanctioned in 2015.

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) is a Central
Sector Scheme announced in August 2003.

The primary objective of the scheme is to correct the
regional imbalances in availability of affordable and reliable tertiary level healthcare
in the country.

Apple Opens First Official Store in South East Asia at Singapore - 28 May 17

Highlights:

Apple has opened its first store in Southeast Asia at
Singapore’s upmarket shopping district.

Apple expects this store to be one of
the most of the most popular stores in the world.

Most of the earnings for Apple comes from the sales of its
flagship iPhone, which of late faces increasingly tough competition in a
saturated market.

Apple already has almost 500 stores globally with more than
a million visitors daily.

Apart from Singapore it has shops located in Hong Kong, China
and Japan in Asia.

Similarly, vehicles have been sourced from other
manufacturers like Tata Motors, Kinetic, BYD and TVS, among others.

In addition, four electric charging station has also been
built by Ola in various places of Nagpur including the Nagpur airport.

As per the NITI Aayog’s recent joint report with Rock
Mountain Institute, adoption of electric and shared vehicles could help the
country to save $60 billion in fuels while cutting down as much as 1 gigatonne
(GT) of carbon emission by 2030.

According to Mahindra & Mahindra, it has made a total
investment to the tune of Rs600 crore in technology, products, and plants of
e-vehicles.

The company already has manufactured 2,700 e-vehicles which
are running across India which are clocking around 14 million kms per day.

Ola has stated that it has invested Rs50 crore in the Nagpur
initiative and has plans to further scale up its operations by investing $2
billion in e-vehicles across all cities of India.

It has set an ambitious target of running one million
electricity-powered vehicles on the Ola platform by 2020.

Newly Built Aeronautical Test Range at Chitradurga in Karnataka - 28 May 17

Highlights:

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has inaugurated the newly
built Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) of the Defence Research & Development
Organisation (DRDO) at Chitradurga in Karnataka.

Salient Highlights Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) is the
first of its kind range that has been set up by the Aeronautical Development
Establishment (ADE), one of the premier laboratories of the DRDO. ADE works on
a range of UAVs (unmanned air vehicles).

The facility will be an integrated test centre for a cluster
of DRDO’s aeronautical laboratories.

The following labs will make use of the testing facility:
the Centre for Air Borne Systems, the Gas Turbine Research Establishment, the
Defence Avionics Research Establishment, the Centre for Military Airworthiness
& Certification, all of which are based in Bengaluru, and finally the
Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment, which is based in
Agra.

The facility is meant to conduct flight-tests of indigenous
unmanned and manned aircrafts such as naval and trainer versions of the Light
Combat Aircraft, the unmanned air vehicles- Rustom-I and Rustom-II (Tapas); the
Airborne Early Warning & Control Systems (AEW&C), Air-to-Ground
weapons, parachutes and aerostats, etc.

The 28 km strategic ATR is expected to facilitate conditions
for research, which is expected to enrich the human resource required in the
field of aeronautical testing.

The test range envisages a two kilometer runway besides
other tracking and control equipment.

The longer runway situated in the ATR will enable the
developer labs to test bigger aircrafts such as the AEW&CS (Airborne Early
Warning & Control Systems) aircraft meant for surveillance and intelligence
gathering from sensitive areas.

The DRDO’s AEW&CS will include much larger Airbus
platforms in the future.

The newly built ATR has been up and running for a few
months.

In November 2016,
DRDO carried out its first successful flight of the UAV ‘Tapas’ 201, earlier
called Rustom-2 in the ATR facility.

Recently, in May 21, 2017, ADE had carried out the test
flight of Tapas for a duration of 6
minutes.

Tapas is a MALE or medium altitude, long endurance UAV that
can sustain for 24 hours monitoring over a 200 km area.

Zika Virus : The Union Health Ministry confirmed three cases of Zika were reported from Ahmedabad - 28 May 17

Highlights:

Three cases of Zika virus were reported from Gujarat state
during January 2017, as was confirmed by the Union Health Ministry on 27 May
2017?

The cases were reported from Bapunagar area of the city.

The WHO report said routine surveillance detected a
laboratory-confirmed case of Zika at B.J. Medical College.

The case was confirmed by the National Institute of Virology
(NIV) in Pune on January 4 this year. Two additional cases were identified
through surveillance.

The information was made public five months after the cases
were reported, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has now published a
‘member state report’ on its website.

Public health experts were shocked that the government kept
the disease outbreak under wraps for five months.

However, the virus
was contained and no further cases were reported.

The Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an
infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue and chikungunya.

C.A. Bhavani Devi become the first-ever Indian to win a gold medal in fencing in a major international tournament - 29 May 17

Highlights:

C.A. Bhavani Devi created history by becoming the first-ever
Indian to win a gold medal in fencing in a major international tournament.

She won the gold medal in the sabre event of the Turnoi
Satellite Fencing Championship held at Reykjavik in Iceland.

She thus became the first-ever Indian to win a gold medal in
a major international tournament.

In the final held on 27 May 2017, Bhavani Devi beat Sarah
Jane Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points. Earlier she had beaten another
British fencer Jessica Corby 15-11 in the semifinal.

Her earlier best performance in fencing satellite tournament
was a silver medal.

She is from Chennai and now trains at the Sports Authority
of India (SAI) centre at Thalassery (Kerala).

India's contribution to global peace remarkable: UNO - 29 May 17

Highlights:

India's "remarkable" role in United Nations
peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world was on hailed by the global
body.

India is the largest cumulative troop contributor, having
provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 UN peacekeeping missions
over the past six decades, including 13 of the current 16 missions.

there have been 50 cases of alleged sexual exploitation and
abuse against UN peacekeepers since January 1 last year but there was not a
single allegation against Indian soldiers.

India had set an example in February last year, when it
deployed the first ever female foreign police unit for peacekeeping mission in
Liberia.

The International Day of UN Peacekeepers is celebrated world
over on May 29 to honour the fallen peacekeepers and to pay tribute to those
who served or are still serving in UN peacekeeping missions.

The theme for the day this year is 'Investing in Peace
Around the World'.

Actress Priyanka Chopra will be conferred with the Dadasaheb
Phalke Academy Award for being an international icon.

The 34-year-old actress' Hollywood debut film Baywatch is
set to release in India on June 2.

The film, which released in the US on May 26, was poorly
reviewed by foreign media and failed to get good box office numbers.

Priyanka Chopra became a popular face in the west after she
starred in the American TV series Quantico.

The Barfi! actress won two consecutive People's Choice
Awards for portraying the role of FBI recruit Alex Parrish in the show.

"Priyanka's hard and sincere efforts have helped her
place herself on an international platform with grace.

She is representing India at a global level and that has
made every Indian proud of her work.

This compelled us to introduce this fresh category in the
awards," Dadasaheb

Actor Johny Lever, Mithun Chakraborty and chairperson of
CBFC are members of the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Board.

Earlier this month, the Don actress made her debut
appearance on the red carpet of Met Gala 2017. Priyanka has also made many
appearances on international red carpet like the Golden Globes, Oscars and the
Emmys.

Priyanka Chopra's last Bollywood venture was Prakash Jha's
Jai Gangaajal, directed by Prakash Jha. According to reports, she will next
feature in the biopic of late astronaut Kalpana Chawla.

Najma Heptulla appointed Jamia Millia Islamia Chancellor - 29 May 17

Highlights:

Manipur Governor and former Minority Affairs Minister Najma
Heptulla has been appointed as the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia.

she has been appointed for a term of five years.

The 77-year old Heptulla succeeds Lt. Gen. (Retd.) M.A.
Zaki, who completes his five-year term this month.

The University will greatly benefit from her rich experience
in both political and public life.

Ms. Heptulla has been
a five-time member of the Rajya Sabha and served as its Deputy Chairman for sixteen
years.

She served as the Minister of Minority Affairs in Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet before being appointed as the Governor of
Manipur.

Ms. Heptulla has had the distinction of presiding over the
women’s parliamentarians’ group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1993.

She was elected president of IPU - a Geneva-based
international organisation from 1999 to 2002 - and was nominated by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as its Human Development Ambassador.

‘Judy’: The Android-based malware ,infected over 36.5 million users across the globe - 29 May 17

Highlights:

‘Judy’is the name of an android-based malware that has
infected over 36.5 million users across the world, as was claimed by ‘Checkpoint’,
a leading security firm.

This malware attacked most devices in the form of simple
fashion and cooking games.

The malware went unnoticed because the infected payload was
downloaded externally from a non-Google server, after the applications were
installed.

Once installed, the software used the infected phone to
click on certain Google Ads to increase the revenue of the attacker.

According to ‘Checkpoint’, major reason why the malware
could spread to such monstrous proportions is that it jumped Google’s own
security feature called ‘bouncer’.

“The Square”, film won the Golden Palm at 2017 Cannes Film
Festival that concluded on 28 May 2017.

Swedish art satire “The Square” directed by Ruben Ostlund,
won the prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), the top prize at the Cannes Film
Festival.

This was the 70th edition of Cannes Festival.

The best director award went to Sofia Coppola for ‘The
Beguiled’, a drama about an injured soldier. Grand Prix award was won by “BPM
(Beats per Minute)” while Best actor was won by Joaquin Phoenix for ‘You Were
Never Really Here’.

Diane Kruger won the Best Actress award for her role in ‘In
the Fade’.

The inaugural function of the 13-km Aluva-Palarivattom
corridor will be held at Aluva in Ernakulam district.

Kochi Metro, which secured the green signal from rail safety
panel, had begun service trials recently on the corridor.

A controversy had erupted over the inauguration after BJP
Kerala leadership had alleged that the state government wanted to inaugurate
the project by this month end when the prime minister would be away on a
European tour.

The state government had recently given clearance for
extension of phase II of Kochi Metro from Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to Infopark.

A cyclonic storm ‘Mora’, which lay centred over the Bay of
Bengal about 610 km near the south east of Paradip on Monday, is likely to
trigger rain in Odisha in the next 24 hours.

The storm ‘Mora’ moved from the east central Bay of Bengal
to the north-northeastward and lay centred about 610 km near the south east of Paradip
this morning.

The system is likely to intensify further into a severe
cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours and move north-northeastward to cross
Bangladesh coast around tomorrow forenoon.

Under its impact, rain and thundershower may lash many
districts of coastal Odisha and some areas in the interior region in the next
24 hours.

The MeT office forecast heavy rainfall at one or two places
in the coastal area of the state.

An advice has been given for hoisting Distant Warning Signal
Number Two (DW-II) at Paradip and Gopalpur ports in the state.

The Mizoram government issued a warning that cyclone ‘Mora’
accompanied by thunderstorm and very heavy rainfall might lash the State on May
30 and 31.

The Mizoram Disaster Management Authority and the Disaster
Management and Rehabilitation department received a warning that the cyclone
called ‘Mora’ will hit several states in the country and was most likely to
lash Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura.

The statement advised the people to take precaution and
other preventive measures as the cyclone could trigger massive landslides and
flash floods in the State.

U.S.A plans first ICBM defence test - 30 May 17

Highlights:

Pentagon will try to shoot down an intercontinental-range
missile for the first time in a test next week, preparing for North Korea’s
growing threat.

The goal is to more closely simulate a North Korean ICBM
aimed at the U.S. homeland.

The American interceptor has a spotty track record,
succeeding in nine of 17 attempts against missiles of
less-than-intercontinental range since 1999.

The most recent test, in June 2014, was a success, but that
followed three straight failures.

The system has evolved from the multibillion-dollar effort
triggered by President Ronald Reagan’s 1983.

North Korea is now the focus of U.S. efforts because its
leader, Kim Jong-un, has vowed to field a nuclear-armed missile capable of
reaching American territory.

The Pentagon has a variety of missile defence systems, but
the one designed with a potential North Korean ICBM in mind is perhaps the most
technologically challenging.

The basic defensive idea is to fire a rocket into space upon
warning of a hostile missile launch.

The rocket releases a
5-foot-long device that uses internal guidance systems to steer into the path
of the oncoming missile’s warhead, destroying it by force of impact.

Former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega dies aged 83 - 30 May 17

Highlights:

Former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega has died at the age of
83 following brain surgery this year,

Noriega ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989.

He spied for the Central Intelligence Agency until the
United States invaded and toppled his corrupt government, ending a criminal
career that saw him working with drug traffickers like Pablo Escobar.

Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992
but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.

Presently, Panama's
President is Juan Carlos Varela .

India's Horticulture Production-2016-17 to be touch at 295 million tonnes - 31 May 17

Highlights:

India is likely to have the highest ever production of
horticulture crops, including fruit and vegetables, in the 2016-17 crop year,
ending June.

The total production is estimated at 295 million tonnes,
3.2% higher than in 2015-16.

The estimate shows that 2016-17 will be the fifth straight
year when India's horticulture production will outstrip that of foodgrains.

The foodgrain production for 2016-17 is estimated at 273.38
million tonnes.

The agriculture ministry released the second advance
estimate for horticulture production, noting that even the area under
horticulture crops had recorded an increase - from 245 lakh hectares in 2015-16
to 249 lakh hectares in 2016-17.

The second advance estimate has, in fact, revised the
production figure upward from the first, which had put the figure at 287
million tonnes in February.

The higher production this year is attributed to a good
monsoon in 2016.

According to the ministry's estimate, based on information
provided by states and Union territories, fruit production for 2016-17 is
estimated at 93 million tonnes, 2.9% higher than the previous year, and
vegetable yield at 175 million tonnes, 3.5% higher than the 2015-16 production.

Most vegetables, including onions, potatoes and tomatoes,
will record an increased production this year. Production of onions is
estimated at 21.6 million tonnes, an increase of 3% over the yield for 2015-16.

Similarly, potato production will increase from 43.4 million
tonnes in 2015-16 to 46.5 milion tonnes -a rise of 7.2%.

During the current year, tomato production is estimated to
be around 19.7 million tonnes, which is 5.1% higher than the previous year.

The second estimate shows that the production of flowers is
estimated to be around 2.2 million tonnes, which is 2.9% higher than the
previous year.

The production of aromatics & medicinal plants is
estimated at around 1.03 million tonnes, marginally higher (0.8%) than the
previous year.

The production of spices is also likely to report an
increase, estimated to be around 7.1 million tonnes, 1.3% higher than in
2015-16.

First Scorpene submarine Kalvari to be commissioned by July - 31 May 17

Highlights:

The first of the six Scorpene submarines being built in
India under technology transfer is likely to join the Navy by end of July.

Presently, Navy Chief is Admiral Sunil Lanba.

Kalvari is going through its final phase of trials and we
are hopeful that in July-August we will take delivery.

Six Scorpene submarines are being built under Project-75 by
Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) with technology transfer from France.

On the recent decision by Sri Lanka to deny permission for a
Chinese submarine to dock at Colombo, Adm Lanba said that it was a decision by
the Sri Lankan Government.

The decision by Sri Lanka came coincided with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s decision to the Island nations. Chinese submarines on
anti-piracy patrols had in the past docked.

The Navy is hopeful of pushing the two deals under Strategic
Partnership (SP) policy very soon given the high priority.

Of the four segments under SP, two are for the Navy,
submarines and Naval helicopters.

The others are single engine fighter aircraft for the Indian
Air Force and armoured vehicles for the Army.

Both the Navy deals have been held up from sometime due to
delay in finalising the SP policy.

Rajasthan High Court recommends declaration of cow as national animal - 31 May 17

Highlights:

The Rajasthan High Court recommended that the Centre declare
the cow as a national animal and increase the punishment for cow slaughter to
life imprisonment.

In a slew of directions passed on a Public Interest
Litigation (PIL), the court asked the State Chief Secretary to take steps to get
the suggestions implemented.

Disposing of the PIL moved by Jago Janata Society regarding
the conditions at Hingonia gaushala in Jaipur.

The court also appointed a committee of lawyers to keep a
watch on the cow shelter's functioning. The Forest Department was asked to
plant 5,000 saplings every year in the gaushala to keep it green.

The judgment was delivered by Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma
at the High Court's Jaipur Bench on his last working day.

The judge had earlier issued interim directions several
times since 2010 for the upkeep of the gaushala, where a large number of cows
had died recently due to unhygienic conditions.

The nature of land allotted for the gaushala at Hingonia, on
the outskirts of Jaipur, would not be changed and the State government would
continue to allocate finances for its maintenance.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau was also directed to probe into
the allegations of financial irregularities in the cow shelter's maintenance.

The court asked the State Advocate General to render
assistance for getting the national animal's status for cows, while making it
clear that the enhancement of punishment to the life term should be made for
the slaughter of all bovine animals.

The judgment has come amid a raging debate over the Centre's
notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter and the increasing
instances of attacks and violence by cow vigilantes on the roads in several
States on the suspicion of smuggling bovine animals.

India and Spain sign seven agreements - 31 May 17

Highlights:

India and Spain signed seven agreements, including on cyber
security and technical cooperation in civil aviation.

The agreements were signed after Prime Minister Modi held
wide-ranging talks with Mr. Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace in the Spanish capital.

The two sides agreements on transfer of sentenced persons
and visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports.

Five MoUs were signed between the two countries on
cooperation in organ transplantation, cyber security, renewable energy, civil
aviation and one between India’s Foreign Service Institute and Diplomatic
Academy of Spain.

Mr. Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Spain
since 1988.

Spain is India’s seventh largest trading partner in the
European Union.

Two-way trade totalled $5.27 billion in 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Madrid as part of
his four-nation tour aimed at boosting bilateral ties.

Mr. Modi embarked on a six-day, four-nation tour of Germany,
Spain, Russia and France to boost India’s economic engagement with these nations
and invite more investment.

there are already a large number of Spanish companies in
India and his government wants more firms to come, invest and do business in
the country.

Spanish firms enjoy a worldwide reputation in various
fields, such as infrastructure, defence, tourism and energy.

These sectors have also been identified by my government as
priority sectors.

Madrid India and Spain should strengthen bilateral
cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Mr. Modi will call on King Felipe VI of Spain and would also
have a round-table interaction with Spanish business leaders to attract
investment into the country.